THE 

CONQUEST OF IRELAND 



ang;.o-norman poem 

on the "^conquest of ireland 

by henry the second 



FROM A MANUSCRIPT 

PRESERVED IN THE ARCHIEPISCOPAL LIBRARY 

AT LAMBETH PALACE 

EDITED BY FRAXCISQUE MICHEL 

WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON THE HISTORY 

or THE ANGLO-NORMAN CONQUEST 

OF IRELAND 

BY THOMAS WRIGHT 



LONDON 
WILLIAM PICKERING 

M DCCC XXXVII 



^^w^ 



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rr\^' 



Fr«ci- 




A 



C. VVHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LWF 



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PREFACE. ^^ 



The poem which is here printed is taken 
from a manuscript in the library of 
Lambeth Palace, where it is marked 
596.^ The volume is written upon vel- 
lum by a hand of the fourteenth cen- 
tury, in double columns, and is unfor- 
tum ely mutilated both at beginning 
and end. It belonged formerly to Sir 
George Carew, who made a very incor- 
rect analysis of it, which was printed 
by Harris in his Hibernica.f 

* It is described in A Catalogue of the Archiepiscopai 
Manuscripts in the Library at Lambeth Palacey by the 
Rev. Henry J. Todd. London, 1812, large folio, p. 94. 

t Hibernica ; or some Antient Pieces relating to 

Ireland (Never hitherto made publick) by 

Walter Harris. — Dublin ; Printed for WilUam Wil- 
liamson, bookseller, at Mecasnas's Head in Bride 
Street. MDCCLvii. folio, pp. 1 — 21. The same, Dub- 



VI PREFACE. 

Though this poem is faulty in its 
style, and very corrupt in its language, 
yet it affords extremely valuable infor- 
mation on one of the most important 
events of the reign of Henry the Second. 
The author, who is anonymous and un- 
known, had a good opportunity of 
gathering details on the events he com- 
memorates, for he learnt them from the 
mouth of Morice Regan, interpreter to 
King Dermod, as he declares in the 
lines which at present begin his poem. 
It appears, however, that this rhymer 
did not confine himself to Regan's oral 
account only, but that he made use of 
the history, or geste, which Dermod's in- 
terpreter shewed to him,^ and of the 

lin ; Printed for Jolin Milliken, (at No. 10) in Skin- 
ner Row. MjDCCjLxx. 8vo. p. 9 — 45. See also Notes 
to the second and third books of the History of King 
Henry the Second, &c. by George Lord Lyttelton. 
The 2nd edit. Lond. 1767. 4to. p. 270. 

* L. 7, 327, 1065, 1309, 1779, 2403, 2598, 3003, 
3134, 3177. He also calls the account which he fol- 



PREFACE. Vll 

reminiscences of ^ old men/^ and other 
people.^ This last circumstance clearly 
indicates that our poet did not live far 
from the epoch of which he relates the 
events. We must add that the late 
Abbe de la Rue has not mentioned him 
in his last work on the bards^ and the 
Anglo-Norman gesters and trouveres. 

In order to make this poem of more 
utility to antiquaries and historians, I 
have appended to the text a glossary of 
the most difficult words, which are not 
to be found in Roquefort^s '^ Glossaire 
de la Langue Romane ;^^ and the notes 
and illustrations have been added by 
my learned friend, Thomas Wright, Esq. 

lows a song, viz, 1. 143, 456, and 1912 ; and perhaps 
an old lav, viz. 1. 3221. This seems to prove that 
this song was nothing else than an historical poem, a 
chanson de geste like his own, for he says that he sings, 
viz. 1. 2064. 

* L. 1500, 2437, 2584, 2594, 2678, 2686, 2822, 
2955, 3053, 3171, 3400. 



Vlll PREFACE. 

whose name will ensure the attention of 
all lovers of antiquarian lore. I am 
indebted for more than one literary obli- 
gation to this gentleman, who, since my 
return to France, has constantly given 
his kind assistance to my labours. 

I must also return my respectful 
thanks to his Grace the Lord Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, who graciously 
permitted me to transcribe the poem 
for the purpose of publication, also to 
the Rev. Mr. Ogilvie, his lordship^s li- 
brarian ; and to M. Lewis, for the faci- 
lities they kindly gave me whilst mak- 
ing my transcript. 

Paris, September 20, 1836. 



THE 

CONQUEST OF IRELAND 

BY THE ANGLO-NORMANS. 

It has long been known that there existed, 
among the manuscripts of the archiepiscopaJ 
palace at Lambeth, a most valuable docu- 
ment, though unfortunately imperfect, on the 
English conquest of Ireland, written appa- 
rently at the end of the twelfth or beginning 
of the thirteenth century, and therefore not 
long after the important event which it com- 
memorates, in Norman-French verse, by a 
poet or historian, — we may call him which 
we will, — who had received the history from 
the mouth of one who had himself been in- 
timately engaged in the expedition; and who 
was no less a person than Maurice Regan, 
interpreter to Dermod Mac Murrough, the 
king of Leinster. 

Bound up in the same volume with the 
manuscript of which we speak, is a prose 
abstract of this poem by Sir George Carev/, 
who was lord president of Munster in the 
reign of Elizabeth, and who was himself a 
descendant of the Robert Fitz-Stephen who 
acts so prominent a part in the history. Of 
b 



n COTQ QUEST OF 

the orIa;inal manuscript, which is apparently 
a somewhat later transcript of the poem, no 
use has hitherto been made by our historians ; 
probably, because it was difficult of access 
and of translation. But Walter Harris, in 
1 747, published in his Hibernica the abstract 
which had been made by Carew ; and this 
has been ever since quoted in place of the 
original, and all its errors and misrepresent 
tations repeated ; and no wonder if it be full 
of them, for we are sure that its author could 
seldom translate the words of his original. 

The story which our poet gives us confirms, 
most remarkably, the relation of Giraldus, 
which had been written previously; although, 
as independent histories, each contains many 
circumstances not mentioned by the other. 
We are inclined to suppose that Maurice Re- 
gan was not the bard's sole authority, and it 
is probable that from him the recital was 
obtained in his old age ; for, in confirmation 
of what he says, he commonly appeals to the 
authority of the old people who w^itnessed it. 
Thus, after speaking of the death of Robert 
de Quency, he says : 

'' Une fiUe pur vers aveit 
Robert, qui tant gentils esteit, 
De sa espuse veraiment, 
Solum, le anciene gent.'^ 

And again, speaking of the Irish barons 
who, in their way through England to Nor- 



IRELAND. Ill 

mandy, had joined in putting down the re- 
bellion of the earl of Leicester with the Scots : 

*' Et de Leycestre lors li quens, 
Solum li dist des anciens, 
Sur sun seignur esteit turne 
Et Plemeng-es aveit mene." 

We should, probably, have known more 
of the poet and of his authorities had we the 
whole of hisproeme, the earlier part of which 
is unfortunately lost, with a leaf of the naa- 
nuscript; yet what remains is far from au- 
thorizing the assertion of all those who have 
quoted it through Sir George Carew's ab- 
stract, that the history was originally written 
by Maurice Regan himself. For the sake of 
shewing how ill Sir George read and inter- 
preted his text, we will give the first eleven 
lines as he has quoted and translated them 
from the manuscript, and again as they ac- 
tually stand in the manuscript itself, and as 
they ought to be translated. We quote from 
the octavo edition of Harris's Hibernica, 
published in 1770. Perhaps some of the er- 
rors in this instance must be laid to the 
charge of the editor : '^ 

* We will add one instance of the utter incompe- 
tency of Sir George Carew to give the sense even of 
his original. We are told by the former that, " The 
expedition of Ossory being determined, O'Brien re- 
turned to Limerick, and the Erie to Femes, wher he 
remained eight days • in which time Morrough 



CONQUEST OF 

Sir George Carew's Text and Version. 

'* Parsoen demande Latinner 

L'moi conta de sim historie 

Dimt far ici la memorie. 

Morice Regan iret celui, 

Buclie a biiche par la alui 

Ri cest g-est endita 

Lestorie de lui me mostra. 

Jeil jNIorice iret Latinner 

Al rei re jMurclier. 

Ici lirrni del baclieller 

Del rei Dermod, vous voil center. 

At liis own desire, tlie Interpreter 

To me related bis bistory, 

Wbicli I bere commit to memory. 

iMaurice Regan was tbe man, 

Wbo face to face indited to me 

Tbese actions of tbe king. 

And of bimself sbewed me tbis bistor}% 

Tbis iMaurice was interpreter 

To tbe king. King ]Murcber. 

Tbese tbings tbis batcbellor 

Of King Dennod read to me : 

Tbis is bis story." 



O'Bvrne (wlio evermore liad been a traitor unto king 
Dermond) was brougbt prisoner unto bym, imme- 
diately bebeaded, and bis body cast to tbe dogs ; and 
with him a son of Daniel Keranagh was executed;" on 
wbicb Harris, naturally enougb, observes in a note, 
'* It does not appear anywbere wbat tbe offence of 
Daniel Kavenagb's son was, tbat tbe loyalty and good 
services of tbe fatber could not atone for "bim." In 
fact tbe poem says as distinctly as possible tbat it was 



IRELAND. V 

The Text from the MS,, with our Version. 

* * * *^ 

'' Par soen demeine latinier. 

Que moi conta de lui lestorie, 

Dunt faz ici la memorie. 

Morice Regan iert celui, 

Buche a buche parla a lui, 

Ki cest jest endita, 

Lestorie de lui me mostra. 

Icil Morice iert latinier 

Al rei Dermot, ke mult lout cher. 

Ici lirrai del bacheler, 

Del rei Dermod vus voil center. 

* « ^ * 

— By his own interpreter, 

Who related to me the history of him, 

Of which I here make memorial. 

Maurice Regan was he, 

I spoke mouth to mouth with him, 

Who endited this history, 

[Who] shewed me the history of him. 

This Maurice was interpreter 

To King Dermod, who loved him much. 

Here I will read of the bachelor [i.e. the king] ; 

Of King Dermod I will tell you." 

We see at once in this translation how 
arose the error that Regan had written the 
history. We rejoice in being able to say, that 
an edition of the original poem is now in the 
press, to the accuracy of which we can bear 

a son of Morrough who was taken and executed with 
his father — 

** E Dovenald Kevenath un sun fiz 
Aveit al cunte mene e pris/' 



VI CONQUEST OF 

our own testimony, as we have been favoured 
with the sheets. We rejoice, because the 
publication of this document will throw light 
on a most interesting piece of history, and 
one which has hitherto been peculiarly ill 
treated by historians. Yet few events have 
had the good fortune to be recorded by two 
contemporaries so well fitted for the task as 
Giraldus and Maurice Regan — one closely 
related to the heroes (for heroes we may truly 
call them) who performed the enterprize ; 
the other, an immediate agent of the native 
chieftain in whose aid it was performed. For 
our own part, we feel an entire conviction of 
the candour of the Welshman, in the use of 
the materials he had collected for his history. 
The testimony of the Irishman is delivered 
with too much simplicity to allow us to sus- 
pect him of intentional misrepresentation. 

It happens, unfortunately, that the rolls of 
the reign of the second Henry are nearly all 
lost. In the reign of John they first begin 
to be numerous, and they then throw great 
light upon Irish history. The charter-rolls 
of this reign contain the confirmations of 
most of the grants of land made to the first 
conquerors. 

In spite of all which has been advanced to 
the contrary, we shall still continue to look 
upon the ancient Irish as a wild and barba- 
rous people. Such were they found when 



IRELAND. VII 

the Romans entered Britain ; such were they 
in the time of the Saxons ; and their cha- 
racter was not changed for the better when 
the Anglo-Normans succeeded in establish- 
ing themselves in the isle. For ages they 
had infested, by their piratical depredations, 
the coasts of England and Wales ; when, 
during the days of Saxon rule, a rebellious 
noble had been defeated in his projects, he 
fled immediately to Ireland to recruit his 
strength ; and at its conquest at the end of 
the twelfth century, the country was full of 
English slaves, who had been purloined from 
their homes. Such being the case, we need 
not wonder if our kings sometimes contem- 
plated the conquest of Ireland as a matter of 
policy ; and it appears from the Saxon Chro- 
nicle, that William the Conqueror had him- 
self formed the design of reducing it to a de- 
pendence upon the English crown. The pas- 
sage, from its briefness, and from the late 
and bad Saxon in which it is written, is ra- 
ther obscure; the sense seems to be, that if 
the king had lived two years longer he would 
have subdued Ireland, and that by the re- 
nown of his valour, without even striking a 
blow (and gif he moste pa gyt twa gear lib- 
ban, he hsefde Yrlande mid his werscipe 
gewunnon. and wi^-utan oelcon woepnon). 
An historian of the twelfth century charac- 
terizes the Irish of his time as a people so 



VUl CONQUEST OF 

little accustomed to peace and quiet, that 
they only slackened in their depredations 
upon others to pursue more inveterately their 
internal dissensions. In the latter half of 
this century, the petty king of Leinster was 
Dermod Mac Murrough, who is described 
by historians as a bold and valiant prince, 
but proud and restless; as little liked by his 
neighbours for his encroachments upon their 
rights, as he was agreeable to his own sub- 
jects by his overbearing tyranny. He had 
reduced to the condition of tributaries seve- 
ral of the petty kingdoms which bordered on 
his own, among which was that of Meath ; 
and in one of his wars he had carried with 
him to Leinster, O'Karrel, the son of the 
king of ^' Yriel." A district nearly adjoin- 
ing to the kingdom of Dermod, which our 
Anglo-Norman poem calls Leschoin, and 
which Harris, in his Hibernicay explains by 
Leitrim, and Giraldus by Meath, w^as govern- 
ed during this same period by King O'Rourk, 
whose residence appears to have been at 
" Tirbrun," in a wild and woody district. 
The wife of O^Rourk was the daughter of 
Melaghlin Mac Coleman, the king of Meath, 
who was herself amorous of the king of Lein- 
ster. The love between the lady and Der- 
mod seems to have been mutual, though our 
poem insinuates that the object of the latter 
in seducing O'Rourk's wife was to revenge 



IRELAND. IX 

the disgrace which his people had suffered at 
'' Lechunthe ;" where it would appear that 
the people of O'Rourk had made an hostile 
incursion into Leinster. At this uncivilized 
period, when an Irishman left his home for 
a short period, it appears to have been a com- 
mon and necessary precaution to hide his 
wife in some corner during his absence. 
King O'Rourk selected for this purpose a 
secret place, apparently not far from Tirbrun, 
which Giraldus calls ^^ insula quoedam Me- 
dioe" — a certain island in Meath ; but his 
queen had already yielded to the importu- 
nities of Dermod : she invited him to enter 
'' Lethcoin,'* with a sufficient force, during 
the absence of her husband, and. at Tirbrun 
he was encountered by her messenger, with 
information of the place of her concealment; 
whence — " rapta,*' as Giraldus has it, ^' quia 
et rapi voluit" — she was carried away by 
Dermod to Ferns. 

The first thought of 0'R.ourk, when he 
received intelligence of the violence which 
had been done to him by Dermod, was of 
revenge. He carried his complaint to the 
king of Connaught, who was then looked 
upon as the superior monarch over all Ire- 
land, and who immediately espoused his 
cause; and by his instigation, all the chiefs 
v*^ho were tributary to Dermod deserted their 
superior lord. Among these were the king 



X CONQllEST OF 

of Ossory, to whom was promised Dermod*s 
kingdom of Leinster, after the expulsion of 
its present sovereign ; Melaghlin (Mulath- 
Zm), thekingof Meath; Hasculf MacTurkil, 
the Danish king of Dublin ; and Murrough 
O'Brien (by Carew translated O'Byrne), 
whom the author of our poem stigmatizes as 
^' un mal felun •/' or, as we might say in 
simple English, a singulaifly great scoundrel. 
It would appear, indeed, that the king of 
Leinster had put more than ordinary confi- 
dence in O'Brien : when all his other friends 
had deserted him , he seems still to have clung 
to the hope that he would return to his alle- 
giance, and therefore he felt the more sen- 
sibly his ingratitude and perfidy. Dermod 
had taken refuge in the city of Ferns, where 
was his paramour, and where he was har- 
boured,we are told, in an abbey of St. Mary's. 
Here he resolved to make a last attempt to 
obtain an interview with O'Brien, and for 
that purpose had recourse to a stratagem. 
Disguised in the long robe of a monk, which 
he had borrowed of the abbot of St. Mary's, 
and which concealed his head and body, and 
even his feet, he made his way in safety to 
O'Brien's residence ; but here again the king 
was unsuccessful : O'Brien refused to hold 
any parley with him, loaded him with re- 
proaches and threats, and retreated into the 
woods. 



IRELAND. XI 

Deserted by those in whom he put his 
trust, his party at home too weak to make 
head against his enemies, the king of Lein- 
ster w^as driven to seek aid amongst stran- 
gers. He left the harbour of ^' Corkeran," 
attended by Awehf O'Kinad, and, accord- 
ing to the recital of Maurice Regan (who, 
we suspect, must have been guilty of exag- 
geration, or the wTiter of the manuscript of 
error), with more than sixty ships. VVith a 
favourable wind he soon reached Bristol, 
where with his followers, and, according to 
the common report, with the wife of King 
O'Rourk, he was lodged in the house of Ro- 
bert Harding, at St. Austins. Thence, after 
a short stay, he passed through Normandy, 
into Aquitaine, where he found the king of 
England, Henry H., who listened with at- 
tention to his complaint, and promised him 
assistance as soon as possible. Dermod re- 
turned to Bristol with the royal letters to 
Robert Harding, his formiCr host, ordering 
him to furnish the refugees with every ne- 
cessary during their residence there; and, 
according to Giraldus, with the king's let- 
ters-patent, authorizing his subjects to assist 
him in recovering his kingdom. At Bristol 
he made a stay of nearly a month ; but at 
length, despairing of any immediate aid from 
the king, and with the hope of alluring pri- 
vate adventurers to join his standard, he pro- 



XU CONQUEST OF 

claimed rewards of extensive possessions in 
Ireland to all those who would be instru- 
mental in the recovery of his lost territory. 
The liberality of his promises quickly at- 
tracted the attention of Richard Fitz- Gil- 
bert, surnamed Strongbow, earl of Strigul. 
Earl Richard was descended from a great 
and noble family, being the son and heir of 
Gilbert, earl of Pembroke, who was the 
grandson of that Richard de Clare who had 
distinguished himself so highly in the memo- 
rable battle of Hastings. He is described as 
a man liberal and courteous, ever ready to 
listen to the counsel of his friends, cautious 
in the cabinet, yet bold and resolute in the 
field. In time of peace he was distinguished 
by his gentle bearing, having more of the 
freedom of the soldier than of the haughti- 
ness of a chieftain ; but in war he shewed 
more of the commander than of the soldier, 
less of the indiscriminate daring of the latter 
than of the firm and cool valour of the for- 
mer. Such was Strongbow, if we believe his 
contemporaries. By some means or other 
he had lost, we are told, most of his paternal 
possessions : to support his character and 
rank, it would appear that he had been obliged 
to borrow, probably of the Jews, who in those 
days were the grand usurers; and at the 
time when Dermod was seeking private ad- 
venturers for the invasion of Leinster, Strong- 



IRELAND. Xlii 

bow was driven, as much by liis own limited 
fortune as by the clamorous importunities of 
his creditors, to hsten to his proposals. The 
Irish king offered him his daughter in mar- 
riage, and, with her, the kingdom after his 
death ; and the earl promised to come to his 
assistance at the first approach of spring. 

From Bristol, Dermod passed over into 
Wales, and was honourably received by the 
Welsh king, Rhys ap Gruffydh, and by the 
bishop of the see at St. David's, where he 
stayed two or three days, until ships were 
procured to carry him over to Ireland. At 
St. David's, he became accidentally ac- 
quainted with one who was to play an active 
and prominent part in the events which fol- 
lowed. This was Robert Fitz-Stephen, who 
had been treacherously arrested and impri- 
soned by his kinsman, the Welsh king, be- 
cause he would not join the latter in rebel- 
lion against his sovereign, the king of Eng- 
land. At the intercession of Dermod and of 
his half-brothers, the bishop of St. David's 
and Maurice Fitz-Gerald, it was agreed that 
he should be liberated, on condition of join- 
ing in the Irish expedition in company with 
Maurice ; and it was stipulated that, in re- 
turn for their services, Dermod should give 
in fee to the two brothers the city of Wexford 
with the two adjacent cajitreds, or hundreds. 
They, also, promised to sail for Ireland at the 



XiV CONQUEST OF 

opening of spring. The Irish king seems to 
have had still a few faithful adherents in his 
own country, and he was naturally anxious 
to return thither as soon as he had secured 
assistance from England. He accordingly 
left St. David's in August 1 168, v^ith a small 
number of attendants, and arrived safely at 
Ferns; where he was privately but honour- 
ably received by the clergy of the place, and 
where he remained during the winter. 

According to the Norman rimer, Dermod 
was attended in his voyage by a small party 
of English, led by a Pembrokeshire knight, 
Richard Fitz-Godobert ; but finding, per- 
haps, on his arrival, his own party in Ireland 
much weaker than he had expected, and 
thinking that so small a body of foreigners 
would be rather an impediment than an aid, 
he seems to have dismissed them ; and he 
sent to Wales his secretary, Maurice Regan, 
to hasten the preparations of Fitz-Stephen, 
and to allure others to his standard by offers 
of lands and money. 

We may well admire the circumstance of 
one family, by the mother's side, having pro- 
duced so many great and brave men as were 
associated together in the first invasion of 
Ireland. Nesta or Nest, the daughter of 
Gruffydh ap Rhys, king of South Wales (the 
father of the Rhys who was king when Der- 
mod visited St. David's), became the concu- 



IRELAND. XV 

bine of Henry I. of England, and by him 
bore a son named Henry, whose sons were 
Meiler Fitz-Henry and Robert Fitz- Henry. 
She afterwards married Gerald of Windsor, 
who was constable of Pembroke, and by him 
she had three sons : William, who was the 
father of Raymund le Gros ; Maurice Fitz- 
Gerald ; and David, who was bishop of St. 
David's. Her second husband was Stephen, 
the constable of Aberteivi, or Cardigan, by 
whom she had Robert Fitz-Stephen. A 
daughter of this same Nesta married William 
de Barri, of Pembrokeshire, by whom she had 
four sons, Robert, Philip, Walter, and Girald, 
the historian of the enterprize. 

As the spring approached, Robert Fitz- 
Stephen made himself ready for the voyage. 
In the month of May, 1169, his little arma- 
ment of three ships arrived at the Banne ; 
hi sarmy consisting of a hundred and thirty 
knights, his own kinsmen and retainers, with 
sixty other men of arms, and about three 
hundred chosen Welsh archers on foot. 
Among the more eminent of his companions 
in arms — the " chevalers de grant pris" of 
the poem — were Meiler Fitz-Henry, Miles 
Fitz-David, who was the son of the bishop 
of St. David's, and Hervy de Montmaurice, 
a soldier of fortune, who had come on the 
part of Earl Strongbow. The day following, 
at the same place, arrived Maurice de Pren- 



XVI CONQUEST OF 

dergast, who had set sail from Milford Haven 
in two ships, with ten knights and a consi- 
derable body of archers. 

In that part of Ireland which was first oc- 
cupied by the English, the older Irish names 
of places seem in many instances to have 
been changed and forgotten ; and we have 
now a difficulty in identifying the places 
which are mentioned in the recitals of Gi- 
raldus and of Maurice Regan. The place 
where Fitz-Stephen's armament landed, then 
called simply the Banne, is by tradition iden- 
tified with the small peninsula on the coast 
of Wexford, forming the promontory now 
called Baganbun. The headland called Ba- 
ganbun, consisting altogether of about thirty 
acres, forms a bold projection towards the 
Welsh coast. On one side of the greater 
promontory is a lesser on6, stretching out to 
the east, about two hundred yards long and 
seventy broad, accessible only at its extreme 
point; beyond which rises a large, high, in- 
sulated rock, which forms a breakwater to 
the surf on the point, and which is imper- 
fectly joined to the main-land by several 
smaller rocks, which just appear above wa- 
ter, and which are described as forming a 
kind of causeway to the point of the pro- 
montory itself. Here tradition says that Fitz- 
Stephen ran in his ships, mooring them under 
protection of the larger rock, and landing his 



IRELAND. XVU 

men by means of the low ridge. The cut be- 
tween the last of these rocks, across which 
he is said to have sprung, is now popularly 
called Fitz-Stephens Stride. The adven- 
turers are supposed to have first occupied the 
esplanade of the smaller peninsula, and there 
still remain distinct traces of the hasty forti- 
fications which are said to have been thrown 
up. On the isthmus which connects the lesser 
peninsula with the greater, a deep fosse, 
about seventy yards long, extends from side 
to side ; which was bounded on each edsre 
by high mounds of earth, and in the centre 
covered by a half-moon bastion, twenty yards 
in circumference. On each side of this bas- 
tion may be traced passages through the 
fosse, and the bastion itself is connected with 
the esplanade by a mound of earth. This 
bastion commanded the approaches, and 
overlooked '^ all the ground in the vicinity." 
Some few years ago, on turning up the soil 
around the edge of the esplanade, were dis- 
covered the rem.ains of fires, at regular in- 
tervals, on the edge of the precipices; which 
are supposed to have been the watch-fires of 
the videttes who were stationed around the 
encampment. In the middle is an oblong 
hollow space, like the foundations of a house, 
which is popularly called Fitz-Stephens 
Tent, The neck, which joins the greater 
promontory with the main -land, is also de- 
c 



XVlll CONQUEST OF 

fended by a double fosse, deep and broad, 
stretching across the whole breadth — a space 
of two hundred and fifty yards.* 

Such is the place pointed out by tradition 
as the first Irish ground occupied by Fitz- 
Stephen. Tradition, however, as we have our- 
selves had too many reasons for knowing, 
is but an erring monitor ; and, in the present 
instance, we are not inclined to put much 
faith in it. The position and form of the 
promontory of Baganbun seems to answer 
better to the description of the place of land- 
ing of the gallant Raymund, and to the for- 
tifications which he raised there ; and we 
think it more probable that Fitz-Stephen 
landed at Bannow, a point, certainly more 
convenient for the intended expedition 
against Wexford. Giraldus calls the place 
Insula Banneyisis (or, as the printed text has 
it, Banuensis), and, as the sea has made 
such changes on this spot as to have buried 
a whole town, it may in his time have been 
a peninsular promontory. 

There is, indeed, no reason for supposing 
that Fitz-Stephen took much trouble to for- 
tify the place of his landing ; the Norman 
poem tells us that he encamped on the sea- 
shore, and Giraldus gives us clearly to un- 

* The foregoing description of the promontory of 
Baganbun is taken chiefly from a paper by Dr. Walsh 
in the Amulet, 



IRELAND. XiX 

derstand that his position was by no means 
strong, though the insular form of the place 
o:ave it a certain des^ree of security. Der- 
mod was at Ferns, in expectation of their 
arrival, the first intelligence of which raised 
the hopes of his friends and caused them 
openly to join his standard ; and, having 
previously despatched his natural son, Do- 
nald Kavenagh, to announce his approach, 
he hastened to join and welcome the Eng- 
lish adventurers, bringing with him about 
five hundred men. The king rested that 
night with Fitz-Stephen, in his encampment 
on the beach, and the next morning they 
marched with their little army towards Wex- 
ford. 

The people of Wexford, who prided them- 
selves much upon their valour and former 
exploits, boldly sallied forth to meet the 
enemy. Their number was about two 
thousand ; but they were unaccustomed to 
the sight of knights mounted and clad in 
armour, such as were the men who now 
presented themselves to their view ; and, 
having first burnt the suburbs, they hastily 
retreated within their walls. The English 
advanced directly to attack the town, which 
was obstinately defended. Among the first 
who mounted the walls was Robert de Barri, 
the elder brother of the historian Giraldus ; 
a lar2:e stone from the besie2:ed struck him 



XX CONQUEST OF 

on the helmet, he fell headlong into the 
fosse, and was with difficulty dragged out 
by his companions : many others of the as- 
sailants were severely hurt, and Fitz-Ste- 
phen was compelled to withdraw his men 
with the loss of eighteen, whilst of the be- 
sieged only three were killed. The English 
hastened from the town to the harbour, 
where they burnt the shipping; and they 
then prepared for a renewal of the attack 
the next morning. But the people of Wex- 
ford, although they had repelled the first 
assault with little loss to themselves, were 
fearful of the final result — they anticipated 
a second by offers of capitulation ; and the 
morning when this assault should have been 
made, they gave their hostages and renewed 
their allegiance to Dermod. The English 
immediately entered the town, which, ac- 
cording to previous agreement, was delivered, 
with its territory to Fitz-Stephen ; and the 
Irish king granted, at the same time, to 
Hervy de Montmaurice the two cantreds 
bordering on the sea between Wexford and 
Waterford. 

After a stay of three weeks at Ferns, Der- 
mod, with his nevv allies, set out for the in- 
vasion of Ossory ; whose king, Donald, or, 
as he is called by the rimer, Mac Donthid 
(perhaps, Mac Donald), was obnoxious to 
him, no less for former injuries than for his 



IRELAND. XXI 

late pretensions to the kingdom of Leinster. 
The invasion of a district defended, like 
Ossory, by its bogs, and woods, and hills, 
was a bold undertaking ; but the fall of 
Wexford had strengthened the party of 
Dermod : some turned to what appeared 
suddenly to be a thriving cause ; the hope of 
plunder attracted many; and, in addition 
to his English associates, he was now ac- 
companied by an army of three thousand 
Irish. The king of Ossory, with five thou- 
sand Irish, had occupied a difficult pass, by 
which it was necessary that Dermod should 
enter his territory ; there he had stationed 
his men behind strong entrenchments, con- 
sisting of three large and deep fosses, with 
a hedge behind them. When the army of 
Dermod approached the defile, the English 
rushed forwards to attack the entrenchments 
of the Ossorians ; the struggle was prolonged 
from morning till evening, when, after much 
loss on both sides, the English knights burst 
through the hedge and put their opponents 
to flight, and Dermod's Irish spread them- 
selves over the country to rob and destroy. 

The king of Ossory and his army, after 
their defeat, had taken shelter in the woods, 
whence, on the return of the invaders^ they 
again assembled, to harass them in their 
retreat. The Irish who were with Dermod, 
and who appeared to have been chiefly the 



XXll CONQUEST OF 

men of Hy-Kinsellagh, were placed under 
the command of his natural son, Donald 
Kavenagh ; and the king himself marched 
with the English, who, as in entering the 
hostile country they were in the advance, 
now in leaving it held the rear. Donald 
Kavenagh soon approached a dangerous de- 
file — it was a place where, in his wars, with 
the people of Ossory, Dermod had been 
three times defeated ; and his Irish, expect- 
ing now a similar disaster, fled precipitately 
to the woods, leaving their leader with only 
forty-three men to await the enemy. The 
king of Ossory, taking advantage of this 
sudden flight, hastened with seventeen hun- 
dred Irish to attack the English, who were 
not much more than three hundred men. 
The latter were just passing the bottom of a 
little vale, and they feared an attack from 
the Irish in so critical a position ; the more 
so, as they knew them to be '* a people as 
swift as the wind.'' Maurice de Prendergast 
urged his companions to keep close toge- 
ther, and pass firmly and dehberately the 
vale, until, having reached better ground, 
they might turn upon their pursuers; and, 
at his suggestion, a party of archers were 
placed in ambush among the brushwood. 
The Irish passed the ambush, but the archers, 
terrified by their numbers, dared not shew 
themselves. Soon, however, the English 



IRELAND. XXlll 

reached better ground ; they shouted their 
cry of ^* St. David !" and turned round upon 
the Ossorians, who, not defended by armour 
like their opponents, were quickly cut down 
or put to flight. The prowess of Meiler Fitz- 
Henry was everywhere conspicuous : Giral- 
dus joins with his name that of Robert de 
Barri. The historian often dwells upon the 
ambitious valour of his cousin Meiler, and 
the modest bravery of his brother Robert. 

When the Irish of Dermod's party, who 
had sought shelter in the woods on the first 
approach of the enemy, saw the result of 
the battle, they rushed from their places of 
concealment, and fell upon the rear of the 
fugitives. With their axes, the peculiar 
weapon of these wild warriors, they cut off 
the heads of those who had been slain by 
the English or by themselves ; and more 
than two hundred heads were thus laid at 
the feet of Dermod . Giraldus has preserved 
an anecdote, strikingly characteristic of the 
savage manners of the Irish of this period. 
Among the heads which were thrown on the 
ground before him, Dermod recognized one 
as that of a person who had been peculiarly 
obnoxious to him : as he danced exultingly 
among the heads of his foes, he suddenly 
seized upon this one, raised it by the ears to 
his mouth, and, with a barbarous joy, bit 
off the nose and part of the lips. 



XXIV CONQUEST OF 

The victors proceeded the same night to 
the town of Fethehn, to which there v/as a 
good and direct road, carrying with them 
their wounded ; and the day following they 
returned to Ferns, where the Irish from 
most of the districts which had been subject 
to the king of Leinster, terrified by the re- 
ports which were already spread abroad of 
the valour of the English, came in and gave 
hostages for their allegiance. The king of 
Ossory, however, as well as Mac Kelan,the 
king of Offelan, or the district about Naas, 
and Hasculf Mac Turkil, the king of Dublin, 
were not among the number. The next ex- 
pedition of Dermod and his English was 
against Mac Kelan . OfFelan was soon plun- 
dered and laid waste, and the booty carried 
to Ferns; and a similar enterprize carried 
them through Hy-Kinsellagh to Glenda- 
lough and the territory of O'Tool. After 
again resting some eight days at Ferns, 
Dermod, resolving if possible to reduce king 
Donald to subjection, prepared for a second 
invasion of Ossory. Donald Kavenagh 
marched first, at the head of five thousand 
Irish ; he was foliov/ ed by the men of Wex- 
ford, who were objects of suspicion to the 
king and the English, and who were there- 
fore placed in a separate division and closely 
watched ; and in another division came 
Dermod himself, with the English. 



IRELAND. XXV 

Thus Dermod and his army wandered 
across the country, making, as it would 
appear, a somewhat circuitous route into 
Ossory ; till one night they came to Fothard, 
or Fethard, where the king encamped with 
the English on the " water of Mac Burtin,'' 
according to Giraldus, in and about an old 
ruined fort. Here it was that, during the 
night, they were visited by that singular 
'* phantasm" which is related by both the 
historians ; and which, Giraldus informs us, 
was of no uncommon occurrence during the 
Irish wars. Suddenly, in the middle of the 
night, they saw rushing upon them, from 
every side, a vast armiy. The greater part 
of the Irish who were encamped in the im.- 
mediate neighbourhood, struck with terror 
at this sudden attack, fled precipitately to 
the woods and bogs, leaving Meiler Fitz- 
Henry and Robert de Barri, who, it seems, 
were with them, and who immediately hast- 
ened to the encampment of Fitz-Stephen. 
They found the English in great alarm ; for 
they, led by their suspicions, supposed it to 
be the Wexford men who had betrayed them, 
and who had come upon them unawares. 
Randolf Fitz-Ralf was on the watch, and 
first saw the imaginary assailants. In an 
instant he shouted the war-cry, *' St. David !" 
drew his sword, and rushed towards the 
enemy. A soldier in armour advanced towards 



XXVI CONQUEST OF 

him, but a blow of Randolf s sword brought 
him on his knees : it was one of his fellow- 
watchmen. The English had now time to 
discover their mistake ; the phantasm by 
degrees disappeared, and passed by the camp 
of the Wexford men, who, equally suspicious 
of the others, thought they saw in it a treach- 
erous attack by the English. 

The following morning the army was 
again put in order, and marched forwards 
in search of the king of Ossory. The latter 
had seized upon the pass of Athethur, or 
Hathedur, which he had defended by a 
broad and high fosse, and a hedge of hurdles. 
At length king Dermod approached the pass ; 
it was near nightfall ; and between his army 
and Athethur flowed a large river, on whose 
banks he encamped. The next morning, his 
whole army passed the river without oppo- 
sition, and the Wexford men were appointed 
to attack the entrenchments. Three suc- 
cessive days they advanced valiantly to the 
assault, and were as often driven back by 
the Ossorians ; till, on the third day, the 
English, marching up as the Irish retreated, 
soon burst through the hedge sword in hand, 
and as quickly drove the men of King Donald 
from their position, and again laid open the 
kingdom of Ossory to the ravages of Dermod 
and his Irish, who returned to Ferns laden 
with the spoils. The king of Ossory fled 



IRELAND. XXVll 

into Tipperary, through the district of 
Wenenath (Hy-Nenath ?), and thence to 
'' Bertim.'' 

The successes of Dermod and the foreigners 
whom he had brought into the island be- 
came now a subject of serious apprehension 
to the other chieftains throughout Ireland ; 
and Rory O'Connor, the king of Connaught, 
and " monarch'' of the whole isle, sum- 
moned together the inferior kings, who en- 
tered Leinster with a numerous army, re- 
solved to expel the intruders at once from 
the land. Dermod had received early in- 
telligence of the storm which threatened 
him. Many of his Irish followers deserted 
him in his time of need, and not feeling 
himself strong enough to face such an enemy 
in the field, he retreated with the English to 
a strong position near Ferns, surrounded by 
bogs and water, thick woods, and precipitous 
mountains. This place, almost inaccessible 
by its natural character, Fitz-Stephen ren- 
dered impregnable, by digging deep pits and 
ditches over the ground by which the en- 
trance must be approached, and by narrow- 
ing the entrance and plashing the wood with 
trees that his men had cut down. O'Connor 
first sent a ^messenger to Dermod, offering 
to confirm to him the peaceful possession of 
all his ancient kingdom of Leinster, on con- 
dition of the immediate dismission of his 



XXVIU CONQUEST OF 

English allies. On Dermod's refusal to ac- 
cede to these terms, the king of Connaught 
made some slight demonstrations of hosti- 
lity ; but negociations were soon again re- 
newed. O'Connor was well aware of the 
strength of Dermod's position, and the latter 
was willing, on any reasonable terms, to 
avert for the present the v/rath of the king 
of Connaught. A treaty was therefore made, 
by which the possession of Leinster was se- 
cured to Dermod, on condition of his doing 
homage to O'Connor as his superior lord ; 
and he delivered, as an hostage for his per- 
formance of the terms of the treaty, one of 
his younger sons, named " Cnuth/' Giraldus 
assures us, that there was also a secret treaty 
between the two kings, whereby Dermod 
bound himself to receive no more English 
into his service, and to dismiss those who 
were with him, as soon as he had entirely 
reduced his rebellious dependants. 

Be this as it may, King Dermod became 
so proud and overbearing by his successes, 
that he appears to have given umbrage even 
to his English allies, to whose exertions he 
owed them. Maurice de Prendergast, with 
his followers, to the number of tv/o hundred, 
resolved to turn home, and, taking their 
leave of the king, they marched towards 
Wexford ; where, however, Dermod had 
already despatched orders to hinder their 



IRELAND. XXIX 

departure. Enraged at Dermod's ingrati- 
tude, and unable to leave the country, Mau- 
rice proffered his services to the king of 
Ossory, who joyfully accepted them, and 
agreed to meet him atTech-Moylin. Maurice 
made his way in safety to this place, in spite 
of the opposition^of Donald Kavenagh, who 
had thrown himself in the way with five 
hundred men : on the third day after his 
arrival the king came to him, according to 
agreement : each took oath of fidelity to the 
other, and they entered Ossory in company. 
V/ith the aid of his new ally, the king of 
Ossory was soon enabled to make reprisals 
upon Dermod, and he suddenly invaded the 
territory of O'More, king of Leis (Queen's 
County), where his ravages were only ar- 
rested by O'More's submission, who pro- 
mised faithfully to deliver his hostages on an 
appointed day. But the wily king of Leis, 
while Donald and Maurice were quietly en- 
joying themselves, and waiting the day fixed 
for the delivery of the hostages, sent a mes- 
senger to King Dermod in Leinster, begging 
his aid against their common enemy. 

During this time, the loss which Dermod 
had sustained by the defection of Maurice 
de Prendergast was repaired by a new arri- 
val of English. Maurice Fitz-Gerald had 
landed at Wexford, attended by ten knights, 
with thirty horse, and a hundred archers on 



XXX CONQUEST OF 

foot, who were joyfully received by the king 
of Leinster. Immediately after their arrival 
came the message of O'More; and, after a 
short consultation with the English barons, 
Dermod assembled his army, and made a 
hasty march towards Leis. This expedition 
had been concerted with such speed and 
secrecy, that it was only when Dermod was 
far advanced on the way that a spy brought 
to the king of Ossory the first intelligence 
of his approach. The latter felt himself 
unable to cope with Dermod's army, and, 
by the advice of Maurice de Prendergast, 
he hastened back into Ossory. The king of 
Leinster, after himself taking hostages of 
O'More, also returned to Ferns. 

Maurice soon found, that the service of 
the king of Ossory was no less ungrateful 
than that of the king of Leinster. The pre- 
sence of the foreigners was naturally enough 
a subject of jealousy to the natives, particu- 
larly in time of truce, when the latter were 
not gaining by their exertions. As the En- 
glish had, perhaps, been more provident than 
their Irish allies, the riches they had col- 
lected provoked their cupidity ; and a plot 
was formed to surprise and murder Maurice 
and his men in their sleep, and to rob them 
of their share of the spoils. The conspirators 
even ventured to broach their project to the 
king, who, however, was honest enough to 



IRELAND. XXXI 

refuse all concurrence in it. In the mean 
while, Maurice demanded and obtained leave 
of the latter to depart for Wales; and while 
the kinc^ moved on with his court (if the at- 
tendants of an Irish king at this time may be 
called a court) to Fertnegeragh, the former 
passed the night at Kilkenny, ready for de- 
parture the next morning on his march to- 
wards Waterford. He here learnt that the 
Ossorians, who had conspired against him, 
resolving to interrupt him in his march, had 
assembled to the number of two thousand 
men, and had seized upon a defile through 
which he would be obliged to pass, which 
they had fortified against him. In this un- 
foreseen difficulty, a stratagem afforded the 
only hope of escape. The king of Ossory 
desired much to retain the English in his 
service, and Maurice now despatched a mes- 
sage to his seneschal, announcing his wil- 
lingness to comply with the king's desire. 
The king returned answer, that he would im- 
mediately repair to him at Kilkenny ; the 
news was quickly spread over the country ; 
the Ossorians left their position in the pass, 
and the English, leaving Kilkenny secretly 
and by night, made a hasty march to Water- 
ford. Thence, after a short stay and a squab- 
ble with the citizens, arising from the death 
of an Irishman who had been v/ounded by 
one of the English soldiers, and which was 



XXXU CONQUEST OF 

adjusted by the prudence and moderation of 
Maurice, they passed across the channel to 
Wales. 

The hopes of Dermod were raised by the 
accession of Maurice Fitz-Gerald and his 
followers, who built themselves a stronghold 
upon a rock at Carrig, near Wexford : he 
had already conceived the idea of making 
himself master of Dublin, and of revenging 
severely upon its inhabitants the death of his 
father, whom they had murdered, and buried 
along with a dog. The arrival of Fitz-Gerald 
was itself a breach of the treaty which he is 
said to have made with the king of Con- 
naught; and the latter, incensed at some 
petty depredations of Donald Kavenagh, in- 
vaded Leinster with a small army ; but was 
defeated by the English, and returned to his 
own kingdom with disgrace. 

Events were all this time ripening, which 
were destined to change entirely the face of 
affairs in Ireland. Earl Strongbow had not, 
as was expected, joined Dernwd in the spring 
of 1169, but he had watched anxiously the 
proceedings of the first invaders, and was 
making large preparations for his Irish ex- 
pedition. Dermod, eager for the attack upon 
Dublin, and in his insolence laying claim 
even to the kingdom of Connaught and the 
sovereignty of Ireland, despatched messen- 
gers to England to hasten his departure. It 



IRELAND. XXXlll 

was necessary, however, for Strongbow's 
purposes, to gain a distinct permission of 
the undertaking from the king of England. 
Historians are not agreed how far this per- 
mission w-as granted. Giraldus says, that 
the answer of the king was such that it might 
be interpreted in favour of Strongbovr's pro- 
jects ; WilHam of Xevvbury asserts, that 
Henry forbade the earl to meddle in the Irish 
affairs : but on this point, William's asser- 
tion ought, probably, to bear with it less au- 
thority than that of Giraldus. Be this as it 
may, in the summer of 1170 Strongbow was 
coasting the Welsh side of the Bristol chan- 
nel, on his w^ay to Ireland. 

The precursor of Strongbow was Ptay- 
mund, so celebrated in the after-history by 
the surname, which his corpulency had pro- 
cured him, of Raymund le Gros. With ten 
knights, and about seventy archers, he land- 
ed under shelter of a rock, which is called bv 
Giraldus Dundunolf, and in the Xorman 
poem, Domdonuil, situated on the southern 
coast of the county of Wexford, but nearer 
to Waterford than to that city, and answer- 
ing exactly in its description and position to 
the little promontory of Bagabun. Here, 
among the rocks, he fortified his camp with 
earth and turfs, and was joined at his first 
arrival by Hervy de Montmaurice, whose 
lands must have been at no great distance 
d 



XXXIV CONQUEST OF 

from this place, and who brought with him 
three knights. With these, Raymund's com- 
pany amounted, perhaps, to nearly a hun- 
dred men. When the intelligence of their 
arrival reached Waterford, which was then 
governed by two Danish chieftains, Reginald 
and Smorch,* the citizens assembled in haste 
to drive away these new intruders. They 
were joined by the people of Ossory, and by 
Donald (or, as Giraldus calls him, Melagh- 
lin) OTelan, king of the Decies, and O'Rian, 
king of Hy-Drone ; and a formidable army 
of about three thousand men, in three divi- 
sions, crossed the Suire, and hastened to- 
w^ards the camp at Dundunolf. Raymund 
and his English boldly sallied forth to meet 
their assailants, but, too few to hold the field 
against so numerous an army, they were 
quickly compelled to retire to their entrench- 
ments, so closely pursued by the Irish that 
both parties were on the point of entering 
ihe camp together; when Raymund, turning 
round at the entrance, struck down with his 
sword several of the foremost of his pursuers, 

* ** Regenald e Smorch erent clame 
Les plus poanz de la cite." 

Norman Poem, v. 150(3, 

The latter of these names is not mentioned by Giral- 
dus. But who were the two Sytaracs mentioned by 
him a little further on in the history ? — *' Captis igitur 
m turri Reginaldi duobus Sytaracis, et gladio subla- 
tis." 



IRELAND. XXXV 

and the English, rallying at the nervous shout 
of their leader, rushed again upon the Irish, 
who, already fallen into disorder in the pur- 
suit, and astonished by the suddenness of the 
attack, fled in every direction. According 
to the story told by Maurice Regan, Ray- 
mund owed his victory partly to an accident. 
The English, on their first arrival, had swept 
the cattle from the surrounding country, and 
had placed them, probably, in the larger 
inclosure of the camp : confined within a 
small circuit, and mad with terror at the ter- 
rible shouts of the Irish and at the clashing 
of the English armour, eager to seek any 
where a place of safety, they rushed furiously 
through the entrance of the camp to force 
their way through the midst of the Irish. 
The latter hastily made way for them, and 
were thrown into confusion ; and the Eng- 
lish, seizing the moment, rushed upon their 
enemies, and made a terrible slaughter. The 
Norman bard tells us, that a thousand were 
left dead on the field ; Giraldus estimates the 
slain at about five hundred. Raymund lost 
one of his choicest men, Alice de Berveny 
(perhaps De Aberveny). Seventy citizens of 
Waterford were taken prisoners, who, at the 
instigation of Hervy de Montmaurice, and 
contrary to the wish of Raymund, were all 
thrown into the sea. Maurice Regan told 
a different story : he said, that the prisoners 



XXXVl CONQUEST OF 

were beheaded by the order of Raymund, 
v/ho was enraged by the loss of his friend 
Alice. But Giraldus was more likely to know 
the counsels and sentiments of the English 
barons his own relations, than the interpreter 
of an Irish king, who was not present at the 
action, and who, full of Irish feelings, when 
he heard of the slaughter would naturally 
enough attribute it to the little spirit of re- 
venge. 

Giraldus must be in error when he fixes 
the arrival of Raymund at Dundunolf to the 
calends of May {i.e. the first of that month), 
for we are assured that it was quickly fol- 
low^ed by that of Earl Strongbow ;* and yet 
Giraldus and the Norman poem agree in 
placing the arrival of Strongbow at the lat- 
ter end of August. In passing the Welsh 
coast, Strongbow had been joined by Mau- 
rice de Prendergast and his followers, who 
returned with him to Ireland ; and he landed 

* So says the Normaii bard, quoting, as usual, the 
authority of the old people : 

" Solum le dit as ansciens, 

Bien tost apreSy Kichard li quens 

A Waterford ariva ; 

Bien quinz cent od sei mena. 

La vile seint Bartholomee 

Esteit li quens arive.'' — V. 1501. 
It is hardly probable that Raymund would have re- 
mained three months shut up in his little fort at Dun- 
dunolf. 



IRELAND. XXXVll 

in the neighbourhood of Waterford with an 
army of nearly fifteen hundred men. It was 
the eve of St. Bartholomew when the earl 
arrived, and the next day he laid siege to 
the city. Twice the assailants were repulsed 
from the walls, when Strongbow, observing 
a wooden house which was attached to the 
wall of the city, ordered some of his men, 
under cover of their armour, to cut down the 
post which supported it. The house fell, and 
dragged with it a large portion of the wall ; 
and the English rushed through the breach, 
put to death all who opposed them, and made 
themselves masters of the city. In Reginald's 
Tower (so called from one of the Danish 
governors) were slain the two *' Sytaracs,'* 
and were taken Reginald himself, and O'Fe- 
lan, the king of the Decies, who had joined 
in the disastrous expedition against Dundu- 
nolf. At Waterford, immediately after its 
captm'e, Strongbow was joined by King Der- 
mod, with Fitz-Stephen and Maurice Fitz- 
Gerald, and by Raymund, who had remained 
with Hervy de Montmaurice and Walter 
Bluet at Dundunolf ; and at their interces- 
sion, we are told, he spared the lives of his 
two prisoners, Reginald and O'Felan. Im- 
mediately after the arrival of Dermod, were 
celebrated the nuptials of Strongbow with 
his daughter Eva : the kingdom of Leinster, 
after Dermod's death, was the dower ; and 



XXXVIU CONQUEST OF 

the united army, after leaving a garrison at 
Waterford, marched to the conquest of 
Dublin. 

Meanwhile the other Irish chiefs, alarmed 
at this new arrival of foreigners, and in- 
formed of the intended attempt upon Dub- 
lin, had assembled under the banner of 
O'Connor, who fixed his head-quarters at 
Clondalkin, and distributed his army, which 
is said to have amounted to thirty thou- 
sand men, in the woods and passes over 
the country through which he supposed 
that Dermod and his allies must have pro- 
ceeded to Dublin, with orders to fortify all 
the passes on the road, and to plash the 
woods. The king of Leinster had, however, 
received timely intelligence of the movements 
of his enemies ; he consulted the English 
barons, and it was resolved to change their 
route, to avoid the woods, and to march over 
the mountains by Glendalough. The first 
division of the army, consisting of seven hun- 
dred English, was led by Miles de Cogan, 
with whom was Donald Kavenagh. Next 
came Raymund, with eight hundred Eng- 
lish, who was follow^ed by Strongbow and 
Dermod, with about three thousand Eng- 
lish and a thousand Irish ;* and, lastly, came 

* The Norman poem, which gives this arrange- 
ment of the army, must be in error as to the numbers 
of the English. It should, perhaps, be ** one thou- 
sand Eno'lisli and three thousand Irish.'* 



IRELAND. XXXIX 

the main body of Dermod's Irish auxiliaries. 
On St. Matthew's day they came in sight of 
Dublin, which was defended by its Danish 
chieftain, Hasculf Mac Turkil. The main 
body of the army halted at a short distance 
from the city, but Miles de Cogan encamped 
just under the wall ; as did also Raymund, 
though at another point. Maurice Regan was 
immediately sent to the governor of the city, 
to require its delivery to Dermod, with thirty 
hostages. Laurence O'Toole, the archbishop 
of Dublin, urged the citizens to accede to 
Dermod's demand ; and w^e are told, that 
the only subject of disagreement was the 
choice of the hostages, for the arrangement 
of which Hasculf demanded a truce till the 
following day. But in the midst of these 
negociations, Miles de Cogan, impatient of 
delay, ordered his men to the walls, and 
forced his way into the city : Raymund, who 
seems to have acted partly in concert with 
him, made a simultaneous attack on the 
other side. Hasculf, with the greater part 
of the citizens, hurried their more valuable 
effects into their ships, and fled to the nor- 
thern islands ; and, after a short but furious 
struggle, and great slaughter, Cogan was 
master of Dublin before Dermod or Strong- 
bow knew of the attack. Dublin yielded to 
its conquerors a rich booty : it was given into 
the care of Miles de Cogan, with a small 



Xl CONQUEST OF 

garrison, and the earl returned v/ith Dermod 
to Ferns ; whence, from time to time, they 
made incursions into the territories of their 
neighbours, particularly into the kingdom of 
Dermod's old enemy, O'Rourk. O'Connor 
again expostulated with the king of Leinster, 
and begged that, if he would not dismiss his 
foreign allies, he would at least keep them 
within bounds : his expostulations were 
treated with scorn, and in revenge he put to 
death Dermod's son, who had been delivered 
to him as a hostage. During the winter (Gi- 
raldus says, in the calends of May) King 
Dermod, " full of years," died at Ferns, 
and Strongbow became, in right of his wife, 
earl of Leinster. 

On the death of Dermod, a new confede- 
ration was formed against the English ; the 
only native chiefs who remained faithful to 
them being Donald Kavenagh, Mac Gely 
of Tirbrun, and Awelif O'Carvy. O'Con- 
nor again summoned the Irish kings to his 
banner, and a host of wild warriors, esti- 
mated by Maurice Regan at sixty thousand 
men, was marched to wrest from the earl his 
late conquest of Dublin.* O'Connor, with 

* Giraldus erroneously reverses the order of the 
two events — the sieges of Dublin by O'Connor, and 
by the Danes under Hasculf and John the Furious. 
A comparison of the dates will at once shew the error 
of the Welsh historian. It must not be forgotten, that 



IRELAND. Xli 

the half of his army, encamped at Castel 
Knock ; Mac Dunleve of Ulster fixed his 
banner at Clontarf; O'Brien of Munster 
established himself at Kilmainan ; while 
Moriertagh, the king- of Hy-Kinsellagh, en- 
camped towards Dalkie : and, according to 
Giraldus, the port was besieged by a fleet 
of islanders, headed by Gottred, king of 
Man. Two months the English had been 
confined within the walls of Dublin, w^hen 
at a council, where were present with Strong- 
bow, Robert de Quency, Waiter de Riddles- 
ford, Maurice de Prendergast, Miles de 
Cogan,MeilerFitz-Henry, Miles Fitz-David, 
Richard de Marreis, Walter Bluet, and 
others, to the number of about twenty, it 
was declared that the city did not contain 
provisions to last with economy for a fort- 
night ; and it was proposed to treat with 
the besiegers. Giraldus mentions a report, 
that this confederation of the Irish had been 
formed at the instigation of the archbishop 
of Dublin : according to Regan, it was the 
archbishop who was chosen, in company 
with Maurice of Prendergast, to carry to 
O'Connor the propositions of the besieged ; 
which were, that Strongbow should hold 

while Miles de Cogan was besieged by the Danes 
and Norwegians, Strongbow was in England, and 
that he only returned to Ireland in company with 
King Henry. 



xlii CONQUEST OF 

Leinster in fee of the king of Connaught. 
The latter, confident in his own strength 
and in the weakness of his opponents, and 
thinking to reduce them to the same footing 
on which the Danes had previously stood in 
those towns, declared peremptorily that he 
would allow the English to hold nothing more 
than Dublin, Wexford, and Waterford. To 
add to the embarrassments of the latter, 
Donald Kavenagh arrived at Dublin, with 
some Irish of Hy-Kinsellagh, accompanied 
by O'Ragely and Awelif O'Carvy, bringing 
intelligence of the revolt of the people of 
Wexford, and of the desperate position of 
Robert Fitz-Stephen, who, with his compa- 
nions, had been obliged to seek refuge in 
the little fort of Carrig. A council of war 
was immediately held, and it was resolved 
to make a sudden sally upon the besiegers ; 
the camp of O'Connor being selected as 
the point of attack. A chosen band of six 
hundred English was secretly assembled, 
which was divided into three divisions : two 
hundred marched first, led by Miles de 
Cogan ; they were followed by as many more, 
commanded by Raymund ; and, lastly, came 
Strongbow himself, with a third division of 
two hundred men, accompanied by Kave- 
nagh, O'Carvy, and O'Ragely. The Irish 
were betrayed by their own security : ,the 
first notice they had of the approach of an 



IRELAND. xliii 

enemy, was the redoubted cry of *' St. 
David !" shouted in the very midst of their 
tents ; and, totally unprepared for defence, 
their first impulse was to save themselves 
by flight. Between one and two thousand 
were slain, above a hundred of whom were 
killed while bathing; and O'Connor him- 
self, who was at the time of the attack in 
the bath, narrowly escaped. The English 
pursued the fugitives till towards evening, 
and then returned to the city laden with 
provisions. Disheartened by the misfortune 
of the king of Connaught, the other Irish 
chieftains who surrounded Dublin imme- 
diately broke up their camps and sought 
their homes ; and the day following. Strong- 
bow was on his way to Wexford. In their 
march through Hy-Drone, the English were 
opposed by O'Rian, the king of that dis- 
trict : the Irish were much superior in num- 
bers to the army of Strongbow ; but after a 
fierce encounter, in which Meiler Fitz-Henry 
w^as thrown from his horse by a stone, they 
were entirely defeated, and O'Rian himself 
killed vnth an arrow by a monk called Ni- 
chol ; which monk gained great praise for 
his valour in the battle. 

Robert Fitz-Stephen and his companions 
had defended themselves bravely at Carrig, 
in daily expectation of relief from Dublin ; 
till at length their besiegers demanded a 



xliv CONQUEST OF 

parley. They brought with them the bishops 
of Wexford and Kildare, with other reli- 
gious persons ; and before them they swore 
solemnly, upon their relics, that Dublin was 
taken, that the English had all been put to 
the sword, and that the kingof Connaught, 
with the whole Irish army, was on his way 
to Wexford. They declared, that they had 
no intention of hurting Fitz-Stephen or his 
companions ; that, on the contrary, they 
were desirous of saving them from the fate 
of their countrymen at Dublin ; and that, 
if they would yield themselves prisoners, 
they should be allowed to pass in safety to 
Wales. Fitz-Stephen, believing that Dublin 
was lost, and thus cut off from all hopes of 
relief, surrendered : the Irish, regardless of 
their oath, rushed upon the English, slew 
several, and threw the rest, with their leader, 
into prison. On the approach of Strongbow, 
the Wexfordians immediately burnt their 
town, and took refuge with their prisoners 
in the island of Begerin (Little Ireland), at 
the entrance of their harbour. The earl, 
when he was informed of the destruction of 
the city, and the impossibility of dislodging 
its inhabitants from their asylum for the 
present, turned towards Waterford. 

On his arrival at Waterford, Strongbow 
sent in haste a messenger to Limerick, with 
letters to O'Brien, the kingof Munster, who 



IRELAND. xlv 

had also married a daughter of King Der- 
mod, desiring him to join in the invasion of 
Ossory. The king of Munster declared his 
willingness to make war against the enemy 
of his father-in-law — but the hope of plun- 
der was perhaps a stronger incentive — and 
he joined the earl of Leinster at Ydough, 
where their joint army amounted to two 
thousand men. The king of Ossory, daunted 
by the uniform success of the foreigners, 
offered to make reparation for all injuries he 
might have done to Dermod, and demanded 
a safe conduct and an interview with Strong- 
bow. Maurice de Prendergast, his old ally, 
offered to be his conductor, and obtained 
the oaths of the English barons that the 
king should be allowed to return in safety 
to the woods. Strongbow loaded the king 
of Ossory with reproaches for his treason 
against Dermod ; and O'Brien of Munster, 
perceiving that the English were prejudiced 
against him, urgently begged them to arrest 
him ; and thinking he perceived some incli- 
nation to follow his counsel, immediately 
gave secret orders to his own men to sally 
forth and plunder the country. But Mau- 
rice of Prendergast, having received intima- 
tion of what was going on, ordered his men 
to arms ; and hastening himself to where 
the earl and his barons were assembled, he 
reproached them with treachery, and, laying 



Xlvi CONQUEST OF 

his hand upon his sword, swore, that the 
first who dared to lay hands upon the king 
of Ossory should pay dearly for his temerity. 
The earl declared that he had not harboured 
the thought of injuring King Donald, and 
delivered him to Maurice, who, with his 
men, accompanied him in his return to the 
woods. On their way they met the men of 
Munster, laden with spjoils. Maurice or- 
dered his men to charge them ; several were 
killed, and the rest dispersed. He passed 
the night in the woods with the king of 
Ossory, and the next morning returned to 
the English camp, where the high character 
which he bore saved him from the suspicions 
of disaffection to their cause, which his bold 
conduct might have excited. The king of 
Munster returned to Limerick and the earl 
to Ferns, where Morrough O'Brien (O'Byrne) 
and his son were brought prisoners, and im- 
mediately put to death. The king of Hy- 
Kinsellagh, Muriertagh, at the same time 
made his peace with the English, and was 
allowed to retain his kingdom. Dismayed 
at the disasters which day after day fell 
upon their countrymen, in their encounters 
with the invaders, the Irish clergy held a 
council at Armagh, where they agreed una- 
nimously in looking upon them as a visita- 
tion of the Divine vengeance upon their 
sins ; particularly on the unchristian traffic 



IRELAND. Xlvii 

in English slaves, of whom so many had 
been stolen from their homes. 

The people of England had, probably, 
been used to pay very little attention to the 
affairs of the sister isle ; and it would seem, 
that hitherto the progress of the English 
adventurers had not attracted much notice. 
The king of England had himself long con- 
templated the conquest of Ireland, but it 
had been his policy to cloak his views of 
personal aggrandizement under the pretence 
of zeal for the cause of the church. So 
early as the year 1155, he had made a 
formal application to Pope Adrian for the 
apostolical permission of his undertaking; 
representing to him the barbarous and savage 
life which the Irish led, and the advantages 
which they must themselves derive in being 
placed under the influence and protection 
of the Romish see.* Adrian w^as an En- 
glishman, and readily listened to his propo- 
sals; and his bull, which is still preserved, 

* Henry proposed, '' Homines illos bestiales ad 
fidem Christi decentius revocare, ecclesiaeque Ro- 
manae fidelius inclinare." — Matth, West. For par- 
ticulars of the proceedings of the king in Normandy 
during this period, we would refer our readers to M. 
Depping's late interesting work, Histoire de la Nor- 
mandie, sous le Regne de Guillaume le Conqutrant et 
de ses Successeurs, 2 torn. Rouen, Frere, 1835 : a book 
which relates to English as much as to Norman 
history. 



xlviii CONQUEST OF 

requires the king, in prosecuting his con- 
quest, to secure to him the regular payment 
of Peter's penny, and to attend, above all 
things, to the improvement of the morals of 
the uncivilized people vv^hom he was going 
to place under his sceptre. His continual 
hostilities on the Continent had obliged him 
to delay the prosecution of his enterprize ; 
but in 1171, v^hile Strongbovv was in the 
midst of his conquests, Henry, then in Nor- 
mandy, called together his barons at Argen- 
tan, and opened to them his intention of 
marching direct to the subjugation of Ire- 
land. 

A crowd of circumstances combined in 
driving the king to this resolution. The 
murder of Becket, the same year, had caused 
a general ferment, not less among the laity 
than among the clergy ; it had raised the 
courage of the king's enemies, who joined 
in applying to the pope for vengeance 
against the murderers, and in aggravating 
the blackness of the deed and the culpa- 
bility of Henry himself. The pope had ap- 
pointed legates to make an inquisition into 
the conduct of the latter, and they were 
already on their way to Normandy. The 
invasion of Ireland would at least have 
the effect of delaying their proceedings : it 
would give the popular agitation time to 
subside, in turning it to a different chan- 



IRELAND. Xlix 

nel ; it might also probably restore him to 
the favour of the Roman see, and it would 
give him an increase of popularity among 
his own subjects, and would thus add to his 
means of defence. At the same time, Ire- 
land, already half subdued by an English 
army, must now be an easy acquisition ; if 
left longer, the barons who had established 
themselves there might be strong enough to 
set him at defiance. He accordingly left 
Normandy for England : he there assembled 
a powerful army, and on the fourteenth of 
September, the festival of the exaltation of 
the holy cross, he reached Pembroke, where 
he was detained some time by contrary 
winds. 

Henry's first step had been to proclaim 
his displeasure against Strongbow, for having 
made such extensive conquests without the 
authority of his sovereign. He ordered him 
to appear in person at his court, confiscated 
his English estates, and forbade any ship 
in future, without the royal orders, to tran- 
sport men or arms from England to Ire- 
land. The earl immediately sent Hervey 
de Montmaurice to remonstrate with the 
king. While Strongbow was prosecuting 
his hostilities against the king of Ossory, 
Hervey arrived at Waterford, on his return 
from this mission, and by his counsel the 
former immediately sailed for England. Ac- 
e 



1 CONQUEST OF 

cording to Giraldus, he met the king at 
Newenham, in Gloucestershire ; and after 
promising to surrender Dublin, with its ad- 
joining cantreds, and all the maritime towns, 
as well as the strong castles of Leinster, he 
obtained the royal grant in fee to himself 
and heirs of the whole of his conquests. 

Before leaving Ireland, Strongbow had 
given his two cities, Dublin and Waterford, 
the first to the care of the brave Miles de 
Cogan, who had captured it ; and the other, 
to the custody of Gilbert de Borard. No 
sooner had Strongbow left the Irish shores, 
than a new danger presented itself before 
the former city. Hasculf, who had been 
driven with his Danes from Dublin, had 
collected a numerous army amongst the 
islands. He was joined by a famous Nor- 
wegian chieftain, called John the Furious 
(in Norman, Johan le Deve ; in English of 
that period, John the Woode ; in the latin 
of Giraldus, Johannes Vehemens) ; and to- 
gether they entered the LifFy, in from sixty 
to a hundred ships, about Pentecost, which 
in that year fell on the sixteenth of May. 
Cogan prepared for a vigorous defence. 
Gilmeholmock, an Irish king who had 
hitherto been faithful to the English, and 
whose hostages were in Dublin, came with 
his men to receive the orders of its English 
governor : the latter perhaps, had no great 



IRELAND. li 

confidence in his ally, and feared to be em- 
barrassed by his treachery. With the chival- 
rous feeling of his age, he ordered the Irish 
chieftain to stand aloof from the combat 
until he should see its conclusion : should 
the English give way, he was to join the 
enemy ; but in case they should obtain the 
victory, he bound himself to join with them 
in the destruction of the invaders. The 
place where Gilmeholmock stationed him- 
self is named, by the Norman poet, '' the 
Hogges of Sustein." 

Meanwhile, John the Furious, at the head 
of a large part of the Danes and Norwe- 
gians, approached the eastern gate of the 
city. Giraldus describes the assailants as 
men clad in iron — some in long coats of 
mail, others in armour formed of plates of 
the same metal, skilfully joined together, 
with round red shields, the edges of which 
were also defended with iron. Miles de 
Cogan, with a part of the garrison, marched 
boldly out to meet them ; but the Danes, 
whose hearts, as Giraldus tells us, were 
made of the same metal as their arms, 
pressed fiercely upon them. Their leader 
proved himself worthy of his name. With 
one blow of his axe he cut in two the thigh 
of an English knight, though cased in iron, 
so that one part of his leg fell to the ground ; 
and Miles and his company were obliged to 



lii CONQUEST OF 

seek shelter within the walls of the city. 
But his brother, Richard de Cogan, with 
about thirty knights and a large company 
of foot, had left the city secretly by another 
gate, and just as Miles was entering the 
town, hardly pressed by his assailants, they 
fell suddenly upon that part of the Danish 
army which was left in the rear. Those 
who had advanced to the assault of the 
city, in the moment, as they thought, of 
victory, were obliged to hurry back to the 
assistance of their companions, of whom 
Richard was making terrible havoc. Miles 
de Cogan fell upon them as they went ; 
John the Furious was himself slain by 
Walter de Riddlesford, one of Cogan's 
knights ; Hasculf had been already cap- 
tured by Richard de Cogan ; and, to com- 
plete the victory, Gilmeholmock, seeing 
from his camp the confusion into which 
they had thrown the invaders, and fearing 
to lose his chance of a share in the action, 
rushed down with his Irish to join in the 
slaughter. Two thousand Danes were slain 
in the engagement — the field w^as covered 
with their dead ; and the victors pursued 
them so closely to the sea, that five hundred 
more were drowned in attempting to gain 
their ships. When Hasculf was brought 
before Miles, in Dublin, his insolence so 
provoked the anger of the English governor, 



IRELAND. liii 

that he immediately ordered him to be put 
to death. 

On the evening of the sixteenth of Octo- 
ber, the king of England, in company with 
Strongbow, sailed from Milford Haven, with 
a fleet of four hundred ships ; and the next 
day, which was Sunday, he landed atCroch, 
only a few miles from Waterford, which 
city he entered on the Monday morning, the 
day of the festival of St. Luke.* With the 
king were William Fitz-Aidelm, Humfrey 
de Bohun, Hugh de Lacy, Robert Fitz-Ber- 
nard, and Bertram de Verdun. Immediately 
after their arrival, Strongbow did homage 
to Henry for the earldom of Leinster, and 
delivered the city into his hands ; the cus- 
tody of which the king gave to Robert Fitz- 
Bernard. Soon after, arrived a deputation 
from the people of Wexford, who, when 
they had heard that Henry was on his way 
to Ireland, and that he had openly ex- 
pressed his displeasure against the invaders 
of that country, thought to make a merit 

* Our dates of Henry's progress in Ireland are 
chiefly taken from the history of Benedict of Peter- 
burgh. All the authorities agree pretty exactly in 
the period of his arrival at Waterford, except the 
Norman poet, whom we might almost have suspected 
of following too literally the authority of Giraldus, 
** Circa Calendas Nov.," when he places the king's 
arrival on the day of All Saints, the first of Novem- 
ber. 



liv CONQUEST OF 

of delivering to him their prisoner, Robert 
Fitz-Stephen. The king at least pretended 
to give ear to their accusations, and, after 
severely reprimanding the delinquent, or- 
dered him to be closely confined in Regi- 
nald's Tower. After having received the 
oaths of fidelity from the kings of Cork, 
Limerick, and Ossory, as well as from 
Melaghlin OTelan and Reginald the ex- 
governor of Waterford, the king proceeded 
to Dublin, having previously made an ex- 
cursion to Cassel and Lismore. 

The king, after passing through Ossory 
arrived at Dublin about Martinmas; where- 
outside the city by St. Martin's church, was 
raised for him a palace of wood and twigs, 
such as those in which the Irish kings were 
accustomed to hold their courts (scilicet ad 
morem patrise illius), though probably on a 
much larger scale. He there held, with 
great splendour, the festival of Christmas- 
day (which fell on a Saturday, and was, ac- 
cording to the manner of reckoning in those 
days, when the old custom of the pagan 
Anglo-Saxons was still in use, the first day 
of the year 1172), his court being attended 
by most of the native chieftains. 

At Dublin the king received the homage 
of most of the Irish chieftains, except those 
of Connaught and Ulster. The inclemency 
of the season obliged him, as well as Strong- 



IRELAND. Iv 

bow, who held his court at Kildare, to pass 
the winter in inaction • and the news of the 
arrival of the cardinals from Rome, and the 
rebellious projects of his son Henry, obliged 
him to leave Ireland, content with receiving 
the homage of O'Connor by proxy, as the 
haughty chieftain would not deign to pass 
the Finn, the boundary of his kingdom, 
where he was met by Hugh cle Lacy and 
William Fitz-Aldelm. The whole of Ireland 
had now acknowledged the supremacy of the 
king of England, except Ulster; which, be- 
fore his departure for England, the king 
granted to John de Courcy, *'on the condi- 
tion that he could conquer it." He also 
granted Meath in fee to Hugh de Lacy. 

At the festival of the purification, the se- 
cond of February, the king was still at Dub- 
lin. He gave the government of that city to 
Hugh de Lacy, leaving with him Robert 
Fitz-Stephen, whom he had liberated before 
quitting Waterford, Meiler Fitz-Henry, and 
Sliles Fitz-David ; and on Ash-Wednesday, 
which that year fell on the first of March, he 
entered Wexford. The army proceeded 
thence, about the middle of Lent, to Water- 
ford, to embark on board the ships which 
waited there ; and, having left these two last- 
mentioned towns in the custody of Robert 
Fitz-Bernard, the king left Ireland on Eas- 
ter-day, the sixteenth of April, and the same 



ivi CONQUEST OF 

day entered Milford Haven, whence he has- 
tened to Normandy. 

From the period of Henry's visit to Ire- 
land, we may date the dependence of that 
country upon the English crown ; although 
the struggle between the invaders and the 
natives was by no means ended. The suc- 
ceeding history unfolds to us a long series of 
violent encounters, of surprises, stratagems, 
and murders. With the spring of 1172, 
Strongbow had again commenced hostilities, 
which were chiefly directed against OfFaly ; 
and in his return from one of these excur- 
sions, in a sudden and unexpected attack 
from the Irish, he lost his constable and 
standard-bearer, Robert de Quency , to whom 
he had given in marriage his sister Basilea. 
Raymund sought the hand of the widow, 
and the constableship, until the only daugh- 
ter of De Quency should be of age to marry. 
His demand was refused : he left Ireland in 
disgust, and returned to Wales ; and the 
constableship was given to the care of his 
envious rival, Hervy de Montmaurice. When 
the Irish were no longer held in check by 
the bravery and experience of Raymund, the 
loss of his services was soon felt by the En- 
glish, and he was recalled by Strongbow ; 
who now, at last, consented to give him his 
sister in marriage, and with her the custody 



IRELAND. Ivii 

of the constableship and considerable grants 
of land, including Fothard, Hydrone, and 
Glascarrig. At the same time, he made a 
general distribution of lands to his followers : 
he gaveO'Barthie to Hervy ; he gave Ferne- 
genali to Maurice of Prendergast,who also 
possessed the district of Kinsellagh ; to Mei- 
ler Fitz-Henry he gave Carbery ; and to 
Maurice Fitz-Gerald, Wicklow and the ter- 
ritory of Mac Kelan. 

Hugh de Lacy, who had been left governor 
of Dublin, nearly fell a victim to the trea- 
chery of O'Rourk, whom Giraldus calls '' the 
one-eyed king of Meath." He was saved 
by the vigilance of Maurice Fitz-Gerald. 
O'Rourk himself was killed; and soon af- 
terw'ards, Lacy, having by the king's orders 
delivered Dublin to Strongbow, entered into 
Meath, which the king had granted to him, 
and distributed large gifts of land among his 
followers. The whole strength of the Irish 
was now directed against the new settle- 
ments in Meath ; and during Hugh de Lacy's 
absence his lands were invaded, and his cas- 
tles, particularly that of Trim, destroyed. 

But if disunion was sometimes the bane of 
the English settlers, it was much more fre- 
quently the cause of defeat and disgrace to 
the natives. Immediately after the invasion 
of Meath, we find the king of Ossory, the 



iVlll CONQUEST OF 

old enemy of Dermod, leading the English 
army against the distant city of Limerick.* 
After prodigies of valour performed by the 
latter, who were led by their favourite com- 
mander Raymund, that city was taken; and 
the aid of the conqueror was almost imme- 
diately solicited by Dermod Mac Carthy, the 
king of Desmond, against his rebellious son. 
This district also became tributary to the 
English. While Raymund was at Limerick, 
his brother-in-law, Earl Strongbow, died at 
Dublin, in the beginning of the June of 
1 176, the sixth year after the first landing of 
the English adventurers in Ireland ; and 
Raymund immediately left Limerick, which 
it would have been dangerous to retain at 
this critical moment, to the care of an Irish 
chieftain. The latter immediately rebelled, 
and Limerick was lost for the second time 
since its first occupation by the English. 
Maurice Fitz-Gerald died at Wexford, at the 
end of the August following. After Strong- 
bow's death, the king confided the govern- 
ment of Ireland to William Fitz-Aldelm. 

The government of Fitz-Aldelm was weak 
and ungrateful to the English ; and John de 
Courcy was driven, by his disgust with the 
conduct of his superior, to undertake his 
long-projected expedition against Ulster. 

* In the commencement of this siege ends abruptly 
the Norman poem. 



IRELAND. lix 

With ■ a few brave companions he made a 
three-days' march through a hostile country, 
and on the fourth reached the city of Down ; 
which, totally unprepared for so sudden an 
attack, was immediately occupied by the in- 
vaders. The king, Dunleve, saved himself 
by flight; but, after some attempts at nego- 
ciation, he returned with an army of ten 
thousand men to recover his capital. The 
men of Ulster were the bravest of the Irish, 
yet John de Courcy, disdaining to fight 
within walls, advanced from the city to meet 
them ; and a long and obstinate battle ended 
in the success of the English, who made so 
terrible a slaughter of their enemies, that 
Giraldus applies to them literally an old Irish 
prophecy, which said that the invaders of 
Ulster should march up to their knees in 
blood. The fate of Ulster was disputed in 
many battles, but the desperate valour of 
John de Courcy overcame all obstacles, and 
the last independent province of Ireland was 
placed under English law and Romish church 
discipline. The chronicles of the time tell 
us how the barbarous manners of the natives 
were suddenly improved and polished, by 
the more vigorous government under which 
they were placed.* 

* All the documents of this period agree in repre- 
senting Ireland as not only a land of savages, but as 
a den of thieves. William of Newbury (lib. iii. c. 9). 



Ix CONQUEST OF IRELAND. 

speaking of the manners of the people of Ulster at the 
time of their conquest by De Courcy, says, '^ Hujus 
autem provinciae homines prag cunctis Hyberniae po- 
pulis in celebratione paschali eatenus superstitiosi 
fuisse traduntur. Nam sicut quodam venerabili epis- 
copo gentis illius referente cognovi, arbitrabantur ob- 
sequium se prasstare Deo, dum per anni circulum 
furto et rapina congererent, quod in paschali solem- 
nitate profusissimis tanquam ad honorem resurgentis 
Domini absumeretur conviviis, eratque inter eos ur- 
gens concertatio, ne forte quis ab alio immoderatissi- 
mis ferculorum praeparationibus vinceretur. Verum 
banc superstitiosissimam consuetudinem cum statu 
libertatis propriae debellati finierunt." 



"?■ 



Ol- 

Hi 



r 



i 




ANGLO-NORMAN POEM ON 

THE CONQUEST OF 

IRELAND. 



Par soen demeine latinier 

Que moi conta de lui Testorie, 

Dunt faz ici la memorie. 

Morice Regan iert celui, 

Buche a buche parla a lui 

Ki cest jest endita, 

L'estorie de lui me mostra. 

Icil Morice iert latinier 

Al rei Dermot, ke mult Tout cher. 

Ici lirrai del bacheler, 

Del rei Dermod vus voil center. 



2 THE CONQUEST [12 

TT^N Yrland, a icel jor, 
-*--' N'i out reis de tel valur; 
Asez esteit manans e richez, 
Amale, francs, hailes, chiches. 
Icil par un poste 
Aveit pris e conqueste 
O'Neil e Mithe par sa guerre, 
Ostages menad en Laynestere, 
O sei amenad O'Karuel, 
Le fiz le rei de Yriel. 

MEs en Leschoin i out un reis, 
O'Roric out nun en yrreis ; 
En Tirbrun mist la hiduse, 
Tere lede e boschaguse ; 
Mes O'Roric, li riche reis, 
Fenime aveit bele a cele feis, 
La fiUe al rei Malathlin, 
A ki Mithe esteit enclin. 
Malathlin de Mithe iert sire. 
Ki la verite vus veut dire, 
Icel esteit de truin 



33] OF IRELAND. 

Del bon veil Malathlin ; 
Estreit cil ert de linage 
Malathlin al fier corage, 
Fiz Coleman, le riche reis, 
Ke tant seingnes e curteis. 
De Molathlin voil lesser, 
Del rei Dermod voil conter. 

DE Leynestere reis Dermod, 
Ki eel dame tant amout, 
De amer li fist bel semblant, 
Mes n'el ama tant ne quant 
Ne mes qu'il vout a sun poer 
La grant hunte, s'il pout, venger 
Que cil de Lethcoin firent jadis 
A ces de Lechunthe en son pais. 
Li reis Dermod sovent manda 
A la dame, qu'il tant ama, 
Par bref e par messagers, 
Sovent fist li rei mander 
Ke ele en fin pur veir esteit 
La reigne del siecle qu'il plus ameit ; 



4 THE CONQUEST [54 

Si la requist mult sovent 

De fin amur covertement ; 

E la dame li ad mande 

Par un messager prive 

Que tut freit sa volunte, 

Al rei ke tant est preise 

E si remande de richef 

E par buche e par bref 

Que pur lui venit en tiel manere 

Od tut Tost de Leynestere, 

E par force e par guerre 

Od lui la ramist tote la terre : 

Saver al rei Dermod freit 

En quel liu la prendreit 

IT ele serreit privement, 

Que prendre la pust quitement; 

En quel liu en fin serreit 

U quite prendre la purreit. 

LI reis manda hastivement 
Par Leynestere tute sa gent 
Que a lui viengent san demure 



75] OF IRELAND, 

De Osseri e de Leynestere, 
Si lur feiseit a tuz saver 
Vers Lethcoin qu'il vout aler 
La hunte, s'il pust, venger 
Que cil firent jadis premer, 
La hunte que cil firent jadis 
En Lethunthe, en son pais. 

TCil vindrent deliverement 
^ Par le rei commandement. 
Quant tuz furent assemblez, 
Vers Lethcoin sunt dreit turnez ; 
Nuit e jor errent avant 
Riche e povre, petit e grant. 
Que vus irrai plus contant ? 
En Tirbrun vint li reis vaillant ; 
E la dame mande aveit 
Al rei Dermot u ele esteit. 
Que il nemist od sa gent, 
Si la preist deliverement. 
Li reis Dermot meintenant 
En la place vint errant 



6 THE CONQUEST [96 

U la dame aveit mande 
Qu'ele serreit apreste. 
En cele manere Dermot li reis 
La dame prist a cele feis. 

/^ 'Roric forment se pleniout 
^^ Pur sa femme que perdu out ; 

Mes mut rendi bataille fere 
A la gent de Laynistere. 
Mes, seingnurs, li re Dermot 
La dame lores od sei menout, 
De errer unques ne finat 
De ci ke mi Kencelath, 
E la dame mult longement 
Hoc estoit, solum la gent; 
A Femes estoit a sojorn mise, 
Solum la gent, en tel guise. 

O 'Roric, mxult dolusant, 
Vers Connoth tendi tut batant ; 
Al rei de Connoth, tut par cunte, 
Forment se pleint de la hunte 



116] OF IRELAND. 

Cum li reis de Leynistere 
Sur lui vint en tele manere, 
Sa femme a force sur lui prise, 
A Femes I'ad a sojorn mise; 
Al rei de Connoth de huntage 
Forment se pleint del damage, 
Mult li requist ententivement 
De la meyne e de sa gent 
Que lui feseit aprester 
Ki sa hunte pout venger. 

T I reis de Connoth fist mander 

J— ^ Al rei de Osseri premer 

Que lur rei ne fausit mie 

E qu'il lur venist en aie ; 

E cil li out asez pram'ez 

Que reis li frunt en eel pais, 

S'il pount en geiter 

Li reis Dermot que tant est fer; 

E cil tantost s'en turnout 

Sur sun seingnur li reis Dermot; 

E Malathlin li traitur 



8 THE CONQUEST [137 

Si reguerpi son seignur; 
E Mac Turkyl de Diveline 
Son seignur guerpi a eel termine : 
Si consenti la traisun 
Murchid O'Brien, un mal felun, 
Li quel mangerent li guar gunn, 
E Yus dirat la changon 
Quant vus tost acomplerum 
En avant en vostre reisun. 

QUant Dermot li reis gentis, 
Que tant esteit de grant pris, 
Vit que lui furent failiz 
Pareins, cosins e amis, 
Vn J or nionta li reis Dermot 
E de sa gent od sei menout 
E va querant O'Brien li fel: 
A lui parler voleit e conseiL 
O'Brien va dune ii reis fuant. 
A lui ne volt petit ne grant 
Parler ren ne conseiler 
Ne songnur confort doner. 



158] OF IRELAND. 

QUant 90 vist li reis Dermot 
Que al fel parler ne pout, 
Li reis s'en est tantost turne 
Tut dreit a Femes la cite. 
A Femes li reis sojornout 
En un abeie que iloc out 
De Seinte Marie la reine, 
Gloriuse dame e virgine. 

DUnc li reis se purpensout 
De une veidie qu'il fere vout, 
Cum il pust le fel trover 
E par engin a lui parler. 
A Tabe feseit li reis mander, 
Une chape lui feseit prester, 
Une chape a une chanoine 
U a pruvere u a moyne. 

A Knoth veit idunc li reis 
^^- Od tut la chape eel feis ; 
A un son dengin Tad trove, 
Cum il me fud endite. 



10 THE CONQUEST [m 

Le reis la chape afubla 
Que as piez lui treina, 
Que nul ne pout aviser 
Si pur moine reuler. 

QUant venuz iert li paumer 
Devant la meison li traitur ; 
Le fel, quant vit le rei errant, 
Vers la forest va dune fuant : 
Kar li malveis traitur 
N'el volt conustre a son seingnur. 
Li fel va dune escriant 
Od sa voiz haut e grant : 
"Mauveis reis, quei alez querant? 
Fuez-en-vus, par nun comant ; 
E, c'il ne fetes hastivement, 
Presenter vus frai al vent/' 

QUant li reis Toiit entendu, 
Dolent esteit e irascu. 
Li reis esteit en grant tristur 
Pur le dit del traitur 



198] OF IRELAND. 11 

Que manace si Taveit 
E que al vent lui presentereiL 
Returne est li riche reis, 
Que tant fu larges e curteis, 
Que turae est li traitur 
Sur lur naturel seignur. 
Tute sa gent li sunt faillie 
De Leynestere e de Osserie. 

QUant se vit Dermot li reis 
Que trai esteit a cele feis, 
Sa gent demeine lui sunt failliz, 
En tel manere iert traiz, 
E que voleint prendre, 
A O'Roric liverer e vendre, 
Si li fist mult grant es iurat 
De Connoth li reis d'autre part. 
Ke vus irrai purloinguant 
De vostre geste tant ne quant ? 



L 



E reis Dermot en unt gete 
Sa gent par vive poeste, 



]2 THE CONQUEST [218 

Toilet lui unt tut la reino;ne 
E de Yrland li unt chace. 
Quant fut li reis exule, 
A Korkeran eschippe ; 
Quant li reis esteit waives, 
A Korkeran est eschippes ; 
A Corkeran en mer entra, 
Awelaf O'Kinad od sei mena, 
O sei mena li riche reis 
E plus de seisante neis. 

T E riche reis aveit le vent 
^-^ Bon e bel a sun talent ; 
Sigles avaint par bel orage, 
A Bristod pernent lur rivage. 
A la meison Robert Herdin, 
A meinies de Seint Austin, 
Sojornat li reis Dermod 
Od tant gent cum il out. 
Solum la dit de la gent, 
La reine i fud ensement. 



238] OF IRELAND. 13 

QUant li reis out sojorne, 
Tant li vint a gre, 
Ses chevalers feseit mander, 
Vers Normandie volt errer 
Pur parler al rei Henriz 
De Engletere, li poestifz ; 
Kar li rei de Engletere 
En Normandie pur sa guere 
Esteit seignurs a icel feis 
Pur la guere des Franceis. 
Tant ad Dermot espleite 
Par ces jornes e tant erre 
Que en Normandie est arive, 
Solum la gent de antiquite. 
Bien est, seignurs, ke jo vus die 
Cum Dermod va par Normandie : 
Le rei Henri va dune quere, 
A munt, a val, avant, arere ; 
Tant ad mande e enquis 
Que trove ad li rei Henris, 
A une cite Tad trove, 
Que seignur esteit clame. 



14 THE CONQUEST [260 

Li reis Dermod, al einz qu'il pout, 
Vers la curt pur veir alout ; 
Vers la curt, pas pur pas, 
S'en est ale tost juanz 
Al rei angles pur parler. 
Que tant esteit riches e fier. 

QUant Dermod, li reis vaillant, 
Al rei Henri par devant 
Esteit venuz a cele fiez, 
Par devant li rei engleis. 
Mult le salue curteisement, 
Bien e bel devant la gent : 
^* Icil Deu ke meint en haut, 
Reis Henri, vus ward e saut, 
E vus donge ensement 
Quer e curage e talent 
Ma hunte venger e ma peine, 
Que fet me hunte le men demeine ! 
Oiez, gentil reis Henriz, 
Dune su nez, de quel pais. 
De Yrlande su sire ne. 



281] OF IRELAND. 

En Yrlande rei clame ; 
Mes a tort me unt degete 
Ma gent demeine del regne. 
A vus me venc clamer, bel sire, 
Veans les baruns de tun empire. 
Ti liges home devendrai 
Tut jors me que viverai, 
Par si que mai seez aidant, 
Que ne sei de tut perdant : 
Tei clamerai sire e seignur, 
Veant baruns e cuntur." 
Dune li ad le rei pramis 
De Engletere, le poestifs, 
Que volunters lui aidereit 
Al plus tost qu'il porreit. 

T I rei Henri parla premer 
^-^ Que cil CO mist al repeirer, 
Vers Engletere passat la mer, 
A Bristoud alat sojorner. 
Le rei Henri fist dune mander 
Par bref e par messager 



16 THE CONQUEST [302 

A Robert Herding, cum il Tout cher, 
Que al rei trovast quant que il eust 

mester, 
A lui e a tute sa gent, 
De tut en tut, a son talent ; 
Si lui feist honorablement 
Trestut le son commendement. 
A Bristoud sojornat li reis, 
Ne sai quel, quinzein u un meins. 
Quant que le reis volt commander 
Lui fist Robert asez aver ; 
Mes de Engletere li reis engleis 
A Dermot, solum le leis, 
Ne lui fist verreiment 
For de pramesse, solum la gent. 
Quant se vit li reis Dermot 
Que nul aie aver ne pout 
Del rei Henri que pramist Tout, 
Sojorner plus ne volt. 
Le reis Dermot, sachez, atant 
Aie va partut querant, 
Aie partut quere 



323] OF IRELAND. 17 

En Gales e [en] Engletere ; 
Tant ad ai'e demande 
A munt, a val, en eel regne, 
Que il est venuz une part, 
Ceo dist la geste, al quens Ricard. 
Icil esteit un quens valant, 
Curteis, larges e despendant. 
Le reis mut ententivement 
Le requist mut ducement 
Que acun socurs lui feist 
U que sun cors i venist 
De conquere son regne, 
Dunt il en est a tort jete ; 
Al cunte dist apertement 
Cum traiz esteit de sa gent, 
Cum sa gent Tout traiz 
E dechace, en fute mis ; 
Sa fille li ofFri a muller, 
La ren del munde qu'il ust plus cher, 
Que cele a femme aver lui freit 
E Leynestere lui durreit, 
Par si que en aie lui seit 
c 



18 THE CONQUEST [345 

Que conquere la purreit. 

T I quens al hore iert bacheler, 

-"^^ Femme n'aveit ne muUier, 

Si entent del rei Dermot 

Que sa fille doner lui volt 

Par si que od lui venist 

E sa terre lui conquist. 

Li quens respont od sa gent : 

'^ Riche reis, a mei entent. 

Ici t'afie lelment 

Que a tai vendrai assurement ; 

Mes conge vodrai en iceis 

Demander del rei engleis, 

Kar il est li mien seignur 

De ma terrien honur : 

Pur ceo ne pus de sa terre 

Sens conge prendre en tel manere.'' 

Li reis al cunte asura 

Que sa fille a lui durra 

Quant il lui vendreit en a'le 

En Yrlande de sa baronie. 



366] OF IRELAND. 19 

Quant fini unt icel pleit, 
Li reis vers Gales turnat dreit ; 
Unques ne finnat de errer i 
De cil qu'il vint a Seint-Davi. 

ILoec sojornat li reis, 
Ne sai quel, deus jors u treis, 
Pur ses nefs apparailler ; 
Kar en Yrlande volt passer ; 
Mes einz que le rei Dermot 
La mere sale passer volt, 
En Gales parlat a un reis 
Que mult iert vaillans e curteis. 
Reis esteit icil nome, 
E de Gales fu reis clame. 
A Ture aveit li rei Ris 
Un chevaler de grant pris. 
Li reis li tent en sa prisun, 
Robert le fiz Estevene out nun; 
En sa prisun le teneit. 
Pur se rendre le voleit. 
Ne sai coment le rei Tout pris 



20 THE CONQUEST 

E[n] im chastel en son pais, 

De li me voil ici retraire 

Cum il fu pris ne en quele manere ; 

l\Ies li riche reis Dermot 

Li reis Ris al plus [tost] qu'il pout 

Requist idunc pur le chevaler 

Que il quite s'en pureit partir. 

Si mentir ne vus dium, 

Ne sai s'il iert delivere nun ; 

Par la requeste li riche reis, 

S'il iert delivere a cele feiz ; 

Mes puis apres, li chevaler 

En Yrlande vint li reis aider. 

Atant s'en turne li reis Dermot 

Vers Seint-David tant cum il pout, 

En Yrlande dune passout 

Od tant de gent cum il out; 

Mes Dermot, li gentil reis, 

Od ses cvuerreis oent enoles 

c? O O 

Ne menad a icel tur, 

Solum le dist de mun cuntur, 

Ne mes un Ricard, cum Toi dire, 



409] OF IRELAND. 21 

Un chevaler de Penbrocsire, 
Le fiz Godoberd Ricard, 
Chevaler iert de bone part, 
Chevalers, archers e serjanz, 
Mes jo ne sai desque a quanz ; 
Kar pas ne ierunt longement 
En Yrland icele gent ; 
Kar enz ne poient profite fere 
Al rei gueres en la tere 
Pur go que poi erent de gent 
Que passerent hastivement. 

T I reis Dermot fist dune mander 
^-^ Par bref e par messager, 
Morice Regan fist passer 
Son demeine latinier. 
Desque a Gales fud cil passe ; 
Les brefs le rei Dermot 
Que li rei partut mandout. 
Cuntes, baruns, chevalers, 
Vallez, serjanz lue deners, 
Gent a cheval e a pe 



22 THE CONQUEST [430 

Ad li rei par tut mande : 

^^ Que tere vodra u deners, 

Clievals, harneis u destre[r]s. 

Or e argent, lur frai doner 

Livereson asez plener. 

Que tere u herbe voidra aver, 

Richement lus frai fefFer." 

Asez lur durra ensement 

Estor e riche fefFement. 

Quant les brefs esteient luz, 

E la gent les unt entenduz, 

Dune 90 fist aparailler 

Le fiz Estevene Robert premer ; 

Desque en Yrlande volt passer 

Pur Dermot li reis eider. 

Chevalers vaillans de grant pris 

Od sei menad ix. u dis. 

Le un iert Meiler, le fiz Henrizj, 

Que tant esteit poetifs ; 

E Milis i vint autresi 

Le fiz Fevesque de Sein-Davi. 

Chevalers vindrent e baruns 



452] OF IRELAND. 23 

Dunt jo ne sai des acez lur nuns. 

Si passa un baruns 

Sei utime compaignuns ; 

Morice de Prendregast out non, 

Cum nus recunte le chansun. 

Si i passa pur veir Hervi 

Icelui de Mumoreci. 

Bien i passerent .iii. cens 

Chevalers e autre menu gens, 

A la Banne ariverent 

Od tant de gent cum erent. 

Quant il furent arivez 

E erent tuz issuz de nefs, 

Lur gent firent herberger 

Sur la rive de la mer ; 

La gent engleis firent mander 

Al rei Dermot par messager 

Que a la Banne od trei nefs 

Esteient lores arives, 

E que li reis hastivement 

I venist sanz delaiement. 

Li reis Dermod le dreit chemin 



24 THE CONQUEST [474 

Vers la Banne, le matin, 
S'en tumat mult leement 
Pur ver la englese gent. 
Quant venuz esteit li reis 
A la Banne a sa fechelis, 
Un e un les ad baisez 
Curteisement e saluez. 
Icele nuit demorerent 
Sur ]a rive u il erent ; 
Mes li reis lendemain 
Vers Weiseford trestut a plein 
Ala tant tost, sanz mentir, 
Pur la vile asaillir ; 
La cite asailli a tute sa force. 
Les autre pur garir lur cors 
Sa defendirent par defors. 
X. viij. i perdi de ces Engleis 
A icel saut li riche reis, 
E les traiters a icel feiz 
Ne perdirent de lur que treis. 
Trestut j or ajorne 
Ad le saut issi dure 



496] OF IRELAND. 25 

Desque i fud aseiri 
E la gent sunt cleparti. 
La gent Dermod li aloez 
Vers lur tentes se sunt turnes. 

M£s lendemain tut premer 
Al rei Dermod par messager 
Firent les traiters nuncier 
Que ostages li frunt livrer, 
Homages li frunt e feute, 
Veant trestut son barone ; 
Que od lui serrunt nuit e jor 
Cum od lur naturel seignur. 
Li reis resout bonement 
Icele ofFre, veant la gent. 
Pur le conseil de ces Engleis, 
L'ofFre resut li gentil reis. 
D'iloec s'en turne li reis Dermod 
Vers Fernez, al einz qu'il pout, 
Pur ses nafFrez saner 
E pur ses baruns sojorner. 
Treis semeines sojornout 



26 THE CONQUEST [517 

En la cite li reis Dermod, 
Treis semeines ad sojorne 
Tut dreit ad Fermes la cite. 
Li reis feseit pus mander 
Robert e Morice tut premer 
Que od lui vengent tost parler 
Hastivement, son demorer. 
Quant le baruns erent venuz, 
E Dermod les ad conuz, 
En conseil les ad li rei menez, 
Si lur ad trestut cuntez 
Que de Osserie les Irreis 
Mult doterent les Engleis : 

" O Enurs baruns, §o dist li reis, 
^ Mult vus dutent les Yrreis : 
Pur go, barun chevaler. 
Par vus conseil tut premer. 
Vers Osserie voil aler 
Mes enemis debarater," 
Les baruns li ont responduz 
Ki ja nert remansuz. 



538] OF IRELAND. ' 

Ne larrunt en nule manere 
Le tra'itur ne voisent quere 
Desque il eint trove 
E en plein cham debarate. 
En qu'il ost alast avant, 
Treis mil homes combatant 
A Dermod vindrent a pes 
Pur la dute des Engleis. 

QUant les baruns ico virent 
Que tant de gent lur syverent, 
Sur le rei de Osserie 
Alerent al host banie. 
Ne le tenez, seignurs, a folie. 
Suffrez un poi que jo vus die 
Cum li reis de Leynistere 
Od sa gent qu'il lout tant fere 
Veleit entrer al pais 
U erent tuz ses enemis. 
Ses enemis sunt devant 
Bien cine mil combatant, 
Que li reis de Osserie 



28 THE CONQUEST [559 

Aveit en sa compaingnie. 

Mac Donthid li tra'itur, 

Que de Osserie ert seignur, 

Aveit jete par devant 

Treis fosses larges e grant ; 

Par devant, dedens un pas, 

Treis fosses ignel ias 

Aveit le fel fet jeter 

E haie par desuz lever. 

Hoc rendi la bataille 

Al rei Dermod le jor, son faille. 

Hoc esteit la melle, 

Del matin jesque la vespre, 

Del rei fel de Osserie 

E des Engleis par grant hatie; 

Mcs les Engleis par achef de tur 

E par force e par vigur 

Les trai'ters en unt j ete 

Par force e par poeste ; 

Mes gent i out asez blesez 

E de morz e de naufrez 

Einz que la haie fud conquise 

U a force sur euz prise. 



582] OF IRELAND. 29 

QUant go vist Dermod li reis 
Que par la force des Engieis 
Passe esteit en eel manere 
Od sa gent de Leynistere, 
Mult esteit de grant baudur. 
Le riche reis Dermod, le jur, 
La tere mist en arson 
Pur destruire le felun, 
La preie fist par tut quere 
A munt, a val par la tere, 
Tant cum il trover pout ; 
De la prei od sei menout 
O'Roruch le rei de altre manere 
Pur Mac Donchid le fel quere 
Que ne fist a cele fiez 
Quant la chape out fublez, 
Quant parler volt e conseiler 
Al fel O'Brien le adverser. 

QUant li gentilz Dermod 
En son pais turner volt, 
Dune ad li reis apelez 
Le treis baruns alosez 



30 THE CONQUEST [604 

Robert apelat par non 
E Morice le barun, 
E Hervi de Momorci 
Fist apeler autreci. 
Ices erent a cele feiz 
Cheveintainnes des Angleis, 

*^ O Eingnurs, fet-il, escutez 

^ Pur Deu amur e entendez : 
Vos genz fetes ordener, 
Kar bien les savez conseiller." 
Les baruns firent aitant 
Al rei trestut son comant, 
Icil firent hastivement 
Tut li rei commendement, 
Tut le gent de Kencelath 
Baillerint a Dovenuld Chevatb. 
Icil esteit fiz le rei 
De Leynistere, si cum jo crei. 
Ki voudra le veir saver, 
Icil esteit chef premer ; 
E le cors Dermod le reis 



625] OF IRELAND. 31 

Esteit remis od les Engleis ; 
Kar en eus s'afiout 
De tut en tut li rei Dermod. 
Armes erent icel, sen faille, 
E bien enseigne de bataille ; 
E Dovenald Kevath tut premer 
Par mi un pas volt passer 
U Dermod aveit einz este 
Par treis eirs debarete. 
Pur CO doterent les Yrreis 
Qu^il serreient le quarte feiz 
Desconfiz e debaretez : 
En fute sunt pur co turnez 
Si que o Dovenald, fiz le rei, 
jNTe remistrent xl. trei. 
Mac Donthid de Osserie 
Sa gent vers li tost relie, 
Sa gent relie hastivement 
Pur desconfire la englese gent, 

O Eignurs baruns, a cele feiz 
^^ Sachez que la gent engleis 



32 THE CONQUEST [646 

Avalez erent dedens un val, 
Gent a pe e a cheval : 
Si lur covent par estover 
Par mi cele val en fin passer. 
Pur CO doterent les Engleis 
La gent yresche a cele feiz 
Que els lur curusent sure 
San delai, a eel hore ; 
Kar les Engles, cum I'entent, 
Gueres avant de iij. cent 
N'erent ad Fur od le rei, 
E des Yrreis .xl trei ; 
E les autres veraiment 
Erent mil e set scent. 
Pur §0 ne fet a merveiller 
Si li barun chevaler 
Dutassent icel gent, 
Que leger sunt cum vent. 
Lors parlat un barun, 
Morice de Prendergast out nun : 
" Segnurs baruns communal, 
Deliverement passum icel val 



668] OF IRELAND. 33 

Que nus fiiissoins en la montaine, 
En dur champe e en la plaine ; 
Kar armes eymes le plusurs, 
Vassals hardis e combaturs : 
E les tra'iteres sunt tut nues, 
Haubers ne bruines n'unt vestues : 
Pur §0, si turnum en dure champ, 
Naverunt-il de mort garant. 
Ferir irrum vassalment, 
E checun communalment 
Trestuz i ferrunt communal, 
Gent a pe e a cheval, 
Sur la gent de Osserie 
Ke nus furent encontrarie ; 
Kar si il sunt debarates, 
A tut dis serrum dutes ; 
Kar rien n'i ad de fuir 
TJ ci vivere u murir." 
^o fu la premer bataille 
Que champele fud, san faille, 
Entre les baruns engleis 
E de Osserie les Yrreis ; 



34 THE CONQUEST [690 

E les Yrreis a grant eleis 
Suerent la gent engleis. 



M' 



^ ^Orice s'escria aitant : 
-^^-^ " Robert Smiche, venez avant. 
Dirrai-vus que friez, amis ; 
Archers averez xl. dis. 
En ceste bruce verraiment 
Lur frez un enbuchement. 
Desque vus serrez passez, 
Les Yrreis que sunt destrez, 
Quant passe serrunt cele gent, 
Si s'essandrent ferement. 
Detrefs lur frez un vaie, 
E nus vus vendrum en aie." 
E Robert respont al barun : 
" Sire, a la Deu benicon !'' 
Atant se sunt abuchez 
Les quarante bien armez. 



E 



Ste-vus par grant hatie 
Le orgoil tut de Osserie 



710] OF IRELAND. 35 

Les unt ale parsuant 
E la bataille desirrant. 
Tant se peinerent icel gent 
Que passe sunt le buschement 
U les quarante adurez 
En la bruce erent tapez. 

QUant passes erent les premers^ 
Par aime erent aj. milers, 
E li quarante archer 
Ne se oserent demustrer; 
Pur CO que tant erent poi de gent^ 
Se taperent coiment. 

DUnc out Dermod li riche reis 
Poiir grant de ses Engleis 
Que il serreint afoles 
E des Yrreis vergundez; 
E li riche rei Dermod 
Morice a sei apelout, 
Si li requist mult ducement 
Qu'il preist cure de cele gent^, 



36 THE COJSQUEST [730 

Cure en preist de sez amis, 
Les ques erent destrefs remis. 
Li barun respont aitant : 
" Sire, tut a tun comant. 
Volunters les aiderai, 
Ma peine tut i metterai.'^ 

1\ yrOrice s'en turne a iceste part, 

^^-^ La reine tire de Blanchard ; 

E de Osserie les Yrreis 

Siverent la gent engleis 

Tant qu'il vindrent en la plaine, 

En la tres dure champaine. 

Lur gent unt dunques ordine 

Bien e bel asez faite. 

Dune c'este Morice escrie 

E sein David ad reclame. 

Le fiz Estevene s'est turne, 

E Meiler li alose, 

E Miliz le fiz Davi, 

E Hervi de Momorci, 

E li barun, chevaler, 



751] OF IRELAND. 37 

Vallet, serjant e bacheler 
Sur les Yrreis se tarnerent, 
A seint David reclamerent; 
E les tra'iturs en juneluns 
Atendrement les baruns 
Issi en tele manere 
Que un hanst de terre 
N'esteit pas a cele feiz 
Entre Dermod e les Yrreis. 
Si cum la prise urent cumpluz 
La gent engleis par lur vertuz, 
Les Yrreis s'en vont desconfiz 
A icel jor de mal en pirz. 
Cum Toi, purreit veir center. 
Un des bons esteit Meiler. 
En la bataille, a icel jor, 
N'i out de li nul meillur. 

QUant 50 virent les Yrreis 
Que menout Dermod li reis, 
Que einz esteint le jor 
En boiz fuiz de poiir, 



38 THE CONQUEST [772 

Repeire sunt hastivement 
Vers lur seignur icel gent ; 
Si se mistrent en Testur 
Par le comant lur seisrnur. 
Ne le devez tener a folur. 
Unze vint testes le jor 
Vindrint al rei icele nuit 
Sur la Barue u il i out 
De ses morteles enemiz 
Ki al champ erent occis, 
Estre les morz e les nafFrez 
Qui del champ erent portez. 

QUant cis erent desconfiz, 
En le champ erent remis. 
A Dermod li riche reis 
E as chevalers engleis 
Lors parlat un barun, 
Le fiz Estevene Robert out nun : 
^^ Entendez-moi, rei vaillant, 
Que je lou, par Deu le grant ! 
Que anuit remanez en ceste place^ 
Quant Deu vus ad done la grace 



794] OF IRELAND. 39 

Que avez, sire, vos enemis 
Par Deu grace desconfiz. 
Tan tost cum parra le jor, 
Querant irrum le trai'tur. 
Ja n'i finirai tant avant 
Que n'el augum pursuant." 

T I reis respont apertement 

^-^ Que CO n'est mie son talent; 

" Einz irrum vers Lethelin 

Bien e bel le dreit chemin, 

Si frum porter nos naffrez 

Que einz en champ gisent blessez." 

II turnat vers la cite, 

Que Lethlin iert clame ; 

Demorirint iloc la nuit 

A grant joe e a dedut, 

Sur la Barue demorerent 

E cele nuit herbergerent. 

T Endemain li riche reis 
^-^ S'en turnat od ses ficheis, 
Vers Femes se sunt turnez, 



40 THE CONQUEST [815 

Od eus portent lur nafFrez. 
Quant il vindrent a la cite, 
Chescun s'en est dune turne. 
Vers lur osteus pur herberger 
Returnerent li chevaler, 
Mires firent par tut mander 
Pur maladis saner, 
Pur saner lur nafFrez 
Mires unt par tut mandez. 

O I cum le gentilz reis Dermod 
^ En la cite sojornout, 
Environ tu[t] le pais 
A li vindrent ses enemis 
Pur crier al rei merci, 
Que einz Turent tut trahi ; 
E pur la dute qu'il aveint 
Des Engleis que od lui esteint, 
Ostages asez firent livrer 
Al rei Dermod, que tant fu fer ; 
E mult bien vindrent a pes 
Pur la dute des Engleis. 



836] OF IRELAND. 41 

Tut le plus de Leynistere 
A pes vindrent en eel manere. 
Mac Donthid ne vint mie, 
Que reis esteit de Osserie, 
Ne le traitur Mac Kelan, 
Ke reis esteit de OfFelan, 
Ne Mac Torkil le traitur, 
Que de Diveline iert seignur ; 
Kar cil rei tant duterent 
Que a pes venir n'oserent ; 
Mes li reis hastivement 
Partut feseit mander sa gent, 
Sur Mac Kelan volt aler 
Pur lui honir e vergunder. 
Dune feseit li reis mander 
Le treis baruns chevaler 
Que a lui vengent tost parler, 
Hastivement, sanz demorer. 
Robert, Morice e Hervi 
Deliverement vindrent a lui. 
Le rei lur ad idunc dist 
E par buche lur ^d descrit 



42 THE CONQUEST [858 

Que il irrat en Ofelan 
Siir le trai'tur Mac Kelan, 
E que eus feseint aparailer 
Pur le cors le reis garder. 
Cil responderent ducement: 
'^ Sire, a tun commandement." 

QUant cil furent aprestez 
E lur gent unt ordinez, 
E le cors le rei Dermod 
Des Engleis partir ne vout, 
Dovenald Kevenath serrement 
Guiot la premer gent. 
Tant se sunt icil penez 
Que en Ofelan sunt entrez, 
La tere unt tote robbe 
E Mac Kelan debarete, 
La prei unt trestut prise, 
La gent vencus e maumise. 



A 



Fernez sunt pus turnez 
Par orgoil e par poestez. 



878] OF IRELAND. 43 

Vers Femes turnat li rei 

Od grant orgoil, od grant noblei. 

A Femes alad sojorner 

Le noble rei .viij jors enter, 

E les baruns vassals engleis 

Tut dis erent od le reis. 

QUant la utime esteit passe, 
Dune ad li rei mande 
Sachent par tut Okencelath 
Errer volt vers Glindelath, 
Othothil vodra robber 
Que a lui deignout venir parler. 
Quant Tost esteit assemble, 
Vers Glindelath sunt erre ; 
E li reis ad commande 
Bamns, chevalers e meine 
Que tuz seient aprestez 
E de bataille aparaillez. 
Icil escrient aitant : 
^^ Gentils reis, errez avant. 
Vengez-vus, reis poestifz. 



44 THE CONQUEST [899 

De voz mortels enemis, 
Reis gentilz, avant errez, 
Asez bien vus vengerez ; 
Kar James ne vus fauderum 
Pur tant cum nus viverum." 

/^Re erre reis Dermod 

^^ Vers Glindelath tant i pout. 

Quant li reis iert venuz 

Od ses amis e od ses druz, 

La prei dune feseit robber ; 

San cop prendre u doner. 

Mis 50 est al repeirer, 

Sein e sauf, sanz encumbrer ; 

E les Engleis ensement 

Repeire sunt tut savement. 

Le rei s'en est repeire 

Od sa gent asez heite. 

A Fernez vindrent les baruns 

Od tretust lur compaignuns. 

A Femes sojornat li reis, 
Tant cum li plut, a cele feiz ; 



920] OF IRELAND. 45 

Sa gent feseit par tut mander 

Que a Femes viengent a li parler : 

Riches, povres ensement, 

Que tuz viengent communement. 

De Weiseford vindrent la gent 

Par le rei commandement. 

A Femes fu I'ost asemble, 

De armis garniz e apreste. 

Lors fist li reis mander 

Robert e Morice tut premer, 

Hervi e li bier Meiler 

E tut li autre chevalen 

Le reis lur prist a conseiller t 

" Oes, seignurs chevaler, 

Pur quei vus fiz ici mander. 

Vers Osserie voil aler 

Pur confundre le felun 

Que ja me fist grant traisun 

Pur le fel traitre ma tere guarder 

Que ja ne volt sur reigner. 

Si me puisse de lui venger, 

En moi n'aurai que doler." 

Atant li dient li barun : 



46 THE CONQUEST [943 

'' Sire, a Deu benecon !" 

T Ors fist li reis hucher 

^-^ Dovenald Khevath tut premer 

Que il se mist al chief devant 

Od cine mil homes combatant, 

E pus apres erraument 

De Weyseford icel gent ; 

E le cors li riche reis 

Esteit remis od ces Engleis. 

Par mi la tere en tele manere 

Errcut li reis de Leynistere, 

En Fotherd esteit venuz, 

Sur un ewe descenduz. 

La nuit pristrent lur ostal 

Sur Mac Burtin a munt, a vaL 

La gent, sachez, de Weyseford 

Le reis ha'irent a tort. 

Pur lur demeine traisun 

Que jadis firent al barun, 

Duterent le trai'tur 

Le gentilz reis nuit e jor : 



9641 OF IRELAND. 47 

Pur CO par euz se logerent, 
Nuit e jor le reis duterent. 
En tele manere li reis gentilz, 
Que tant iert pruz e hardiz, 
Just sur Tewe de Mac Burtin 
E tut son ost i out en fin. 

UN enfantesme la nuit lur vint^ 
Que chescun a vers le tint. 
IJn ost grant e mervellus 
Par mi les loges a esturz 
Lur vint sur, bien armez 
De aubercs e d'escuz bendez. 
Cil de loges saillent fors 
Pur defendre idunc lur cors. 
Del ost engleis un chevaler, 
Baudolffiz Rouf Toi nomer ; 
La nuit, pur li chef gueiter, 
Esteit defors Randolf le bier. 
Mult se prist li chevaler 
De eel ost a merveiller, 
Quidount qu'il fussent trai'z 



48 THE CONQUEST ^985 

Par lur morteus enemis. 

ICil s'escriat haut e cler : 
^^ Sein Davi ! barun chevaler !" 
Pus ad treit le brant d'acier; 
Un son compaignun premer 
Par cop sur le capeler, 
Par vertu le fist agenuler ; 
Kar bien quidout certeinement 
Que cil fust del autre gent. 
Bien quiderent les plusurs 
Que icil erent les traiturs 
De Weyseford la cite 
Que cest erent longge. 
Icel enfanteyme s'en parti; 
Aitant cum jo vus di, 
Passerent par le Langport 
A la gent de Weiseford. 
Icil quiderent estre pris 
Par Dermod li reis gentilz; 
Mes lendemain hastivement 
Ordiner firent lur gent 



1006] OF IRELAND. 49 

Par le riche [rei] command, 
Cum il erent le jor devant. 
Sur le rei de Osserie 
Alad li reis par grant envie. 
Mac Donthid coiement 
Mander fist tote sa gent 
Ki al pas de Hachedur 
Viengent sanz contreditur ; 
Un fosse fist jeter aitant 
Haut e large, roist e grant 
Pus par a fin ficher 
E par devant ben herdeler, 
Pur defendre le passage 
Al rei Dermod al fer corage. 

T E reis erre nuit e jor 

^-^ Que ameimes vint de Athethur. 

Sur un ewe de grant reddur 

Se herberegerent li pongneur, 

E les Engleis de grant valur 

Se herbergerent tut entur, 

Le ewe unt lendemain passe 

E 



50 THE CONQUEST [1027 

Sanz bataille e sanz melle, 
Lendemain passent son faille 
Sanz melle e sanz bataille. 

T~AE Weyseforde icele gent 

^-^ Le asaut firent premerement; 

La haie pristrent asailler. 

Treis jors enters, san mentir, 

Les traiteres aques feintement 

Asaillerent icele gent. 

La haie ne pout estre prise 

Par lur asaut a nule guise 

Desque la engleise gent, 

Le tiers jor, cum I'entent, 

La haie sur euz unt conquise 

E cele gent en fuite mise. 

Fui s'en est desque a Tiberath 

Par mi la tere de Wenenath ; 

E d'eloc desque a Bertun 

S'enfui le rei felun ; 

Mes Dermod, li rei puissant, 

Le traitre vet tant suant, 



1048] OF IRELAND. 51 

Tant ad sui le trai'tur 
Que mis Tad en tel errur 
Qu'il defendre ne se pout 
Encontre le rei Dermod ; 
E Dermod li rei preise 
La tere al felun ad gaste, 
Preie grant od sei mene 
Desque a Femes la cite. 

DErmod, li rei poestifs, 
Aquite aveit son pais, 
Les plusurs de ses enemis 
Debarates e deconfiz, 
Par les Engleis esteit monte 
En grant orgoil, en grant ferte ; 
Mes par le conseil de sa gent 
Retenir volt, cum Tentent, 
Les soudeis Morice le barun, 
Solum la geste que lisum. 



I 



Cil s'en parti del rei Dermod, 
Bien ot deus cent od sei menout^ 



52 THE CONQUEST [1063 

Des Engleis veraiment 

Mena Morice bien deus cent ; 

Vers Weyseford s'en turnout, 

La mer vers Gales passer volt. 

Lors fist li reis mander 

A Weyseford par messager, 

Morice feseit desturber 

Tut li mestre notinier 

Que il ne pout la mer passer 

Ne a sun pai's repeirer. 

QUant sout Morice la novele, 
Mult esteit en aruele ; 
PoUr out a icel hure 
Que li corusent sure 
Les traitres de Weyseford 
Par conseil li reis, a tort ; 
Mes Morice hastivement 
Tant parlad a cele gent 
De Weyseford la cite 
Que sur le rei sunt turne. 
Morice ne se targa mie 



1089] OF IRELAND. 53 

Al rei manda de Osserie 

Que a lui vendreit, san mentir, 

Si lui plust, pur lui servir ; 

Kar par mal esteit parti 

Del rei Deimod qu'il out servi. 

Quant Mac Donethid entendi 

Que Morice vendreit a lui, 

De la novele esteit heistez 

E de joie saili a pes ; 

Al barun manda erraument 

Que a lui venist assurement, 

Liveresun li freit doner 

Asez richez e plener. 

Atant s'an ala le barun 

Lui e tut si compainun, 

Vers la vile de Chatmelin 

Tindrent le dreit chemin ; 

Mes le fiz al rei Dermod, 

Dovenald Kevanth, al plus qu'il pout, 

Le jor asaili le barun, 

Bien ad cine cent compaignun. 

Mult aveient de restur 



54 THE CONQUEST [1111 

La gent Morice a icel jor; 
Mes a force e a vertuz 
A Thamelin eerent venuz. 
Treis jors ad dune sojorne 
Morice iloc od sa rneine. 
Le rei de Osserie so vent 
Message tramist a cele gent 
Que il vendreit le tiers jor 
San nul autre contreditur. 
Le reis i vint veraiment 
Le ters jor sanz delaement. 
La vint le rei de Osserie 
Mac Donthith od sa compagnie, 
E li reis trestut errant 
A Morice feseit beu semblant. 
Morice e tute sa gent 
Le rei saluent ducement. 
Le reis e sa haute gent 
As Angleis firent serment, 
As Engieis jurerent en fin 
Sur Tauter e sur Pescrin 
Que ja traisun ne lur frunt 



1133] OF IRELAND, 55 

Tant euz od lui serrunt. 

1\ /rAc Donethith ad dune mene 
-*-^-'- Morice e tute sa meine, 
Mena li reis en Osserie 
Morice e sa compaignie, 
E Robert remist od Dermod 
Od tant de gent cum il out, 
E Hervi tut ensement 
Od sa force e od sa gent. 

MAc Donehid jor e nuit 
La tere Dermod destruit, 
Par Morice e par sa meine 
La tere al rei ad dune gaste. 
Hoc refut le barun, 
De Morice Osseriath le nun : 
Si Tapelouent tut dis 
Les Yrreis de eel pais, 
Que en Osserie esteint venuz 
E od le rei remansrus. 



56 THE CONQUEST [1152 

T^E Morice voil ici arester, 
^-^ De im barun voil cunter, 
Le fiz Gerout : Moriz out nun. 
Arive esteit li barun, 
A Weyseford iert arive 
Od gent bele e grant meine, 
Pur aider al rei Dermod 
Arivez esteit a Weyseford. 

DUnc ad li barun maiide 
Al reis qu'il iert arive, 
Dermod entendi la novele, 
Peca ne lui vint tant bele. 
Le reis, a ceit d'esperun, 
Pur encuhtrer le barun 
S'en est turne tut dreit al port 
Vers la rive de Weyseford. 
Quant li riche reis li vit, 
Hastivement li ad dit : 
'^ Bien seez venuz, barun, 
Le fiz Gerout, Moriz par nun." 
Icil respont aitant : 



1173] OF IRELAND. 57 

" Deus te beneie, reis vaillant !" 
Vers Femes s'en vont leement 
Li reis e Morice ensement. 

MEs de Osserie en fin li reis 
A Ture esteit ale en Leis 
Sur le seignur de cele tere 
Que il ne lui feseit guere. 
O'Murthith out nun le seingnur 
Que Leis teneit a icel jor. 
Mac Donehith od ses Engleis 
Destruire volt tute Leis, 
Quant O'Murthe le seignur 
E Mac Donehild ascit jor 
Jor li ad iloc asis, 
O stages durreit de son pais ; 
Ne mes que quatre jors u treis 
Demurrat iloques le reis ; 
Ostages durreit cine u cis 
De sa tere le plus gentilz. 
Li reis li ad igo grante, 
Treis jors i ad sojorne. 



58 THE CONQUEST [1194 

O'Murthe manda hastivement 
Al rei Dermod que cele gent 
Par lur force e par lur guerre 
Erent entrez en sa terre, 
E que il i venist deliverement 
Pur li succure hastivement. 

DE Leynistere rei Dermod 
A Robert e a fiz Gerout 
Quancque O'Murthe out mande 
As dous baruns ad tut cunte, 
E cil al rei dune unt dist : 
" Hastivement, sen nul respit, 
Voz genz feites apariler. 
N'i ad, sire, que targer/' 
Li reis feseit en haut crier 
Quancque amies porrout porter 
Li suent tut errant. 
Le reis munte ai'tant. 
Le treis baruns ensement 
Le rei suerent od lur gent, 
Ne finerent de ci que a Leis, 



1215] OF IRELAND. 59 

U de Osserie esteit li reis ; 
E li reis de Osserie 
E[n] un[e] lande jout florie, 
Tant cum le rei Dermod 
Vers li vint e li fiz Gerout ; 
Mes il ne sout verraiment 
Que vers lui venissent gent. 
Si cum li reis Mac Donehit 
E Moriz Ossriath 
Jurent sur un lande, 
Ke mut esteit bel e grande, 
Si purpensout un matin 
Morice de Prendergast en fin 
Ke O'Morthe, li sire de Leys, 
Trai'r volt Donehit le reis, 
Si force en nule manere 
Aver pout de Leynistere. 

Altant este-vus un espie 
Desque al rei de Osserie, 
Si li dist que reis Dermod 
Od tote la force qu'il pout 



60 THE CONQUEST [1236 

Le fiz Estevene od sei menout 

E Morice le fiz Gerout, 

E bien desque a treis cent Engleis 

Od lui erent venuz en Leys, 

Estre tut li autre gent 

Que sunt venuz de fefFement. 

Dune commengat a parler 

Morice de Prendergast premer : 

" Alum-nus, sire reis : 

Trop nus suient gent engleis, 

E nus n'avum que poi de gent : 

Pur go alum tut serrement. 

Si il nus aprucent tant ne quant, 

Bien nus irrum defendant." 

A Tant s'en turnat li reis 
De la tere O'Morthe de Leys 
Par le conseil son ami 
Morice, dunt avez oi*. 



L 



E rei Dermod hastivement, 
A qui Leynistere apent, 



1256] OF lEELAND. 61 

Robert e Morice ensement 
Tant suierent icel gent; 
Mes euz n'el ateinstrent pas, 
Kar passe erent le pas 
Mac Donehid de Osserie 
E Morice en ki il s'afie ; 
E Dermod, li rei puissant, 
Vers Femes alat tut batant, 
Vers Femes s'en est repeire, 
Ostages od sei ad mene, 
Ostages menout a cele feiz 
De O'Morthe sire de Leys. 

T% TAc Donehid od sa compaingnie 

■^^-^ Repeire est en Osserie, 

Ai'tant s'en sunt partis 

Sein e saufs en lur pais ; 

E la gent de Osserie 

Mult aveint grant envie 

Que il deveint souderer 

E as Engleis lur sous doner. 

Li fel vunt dunt conseillant, 



62 THE CONQUEST [1277 

Un arere, autre avant ; 

Morice volent traier 

E son trezor entre euz partir, 

Pur lur or e pur lur argent 

Morthrir voleint icel gent, 

Si aveint purparle 

La traVsun tut a cele. 

DEvant le rei sunt dune venuz 
Juvenes, vels e cafs, veluz : 
" Entendez-nuz, rei, bel sire, 
Morice volum en fin occire : 
Asez avum bone pes, 
De euz n'an avum ke fere mes," 
E li reis ad respond u : 
'^ Ne place Deu ne sa vertuz 
Que ja par mei seient traiz, 
Mordrir, mors, hunis ne pris 1'' 

A L reis est venu li barun, 
■^^^ Ki rien ne sout del traison ; 
Dunt pur veir ad demande 



1297] OF IRELAND. 63 

Del rei bonement congie, 
Repeirir put en son pais. 
Le rei, sacez, mut envis 
Congie donat al chevaler 
En son pais de returner ; 
Mes li reis mult li requist 
Que od lui uncore remansist. 
Morice respondi al reis : 
" Passer volent les Engleis, 
-La haute mer volent passer 
Pur lur amis visiter.'' 
Aitant s'en est li reis parti, 
Solum la geste que oiez ici ; 
A Fertekerath ala, se qui, 
E les Engleis a Kilkenni 
Remistrent icele nuit 
Od grant joie e od grant brut, 
E tut li traitre felun 
De cele tere envirun 
Les pas alerent plesser 
Par unc il deveint passer ; 
Mes si cum Deu le voleit 



64 THE CONQUEST [1319 

Que Morice garnis esteit 

De la grant felunie 

Que ceuz firent de Osserie, 

Mander feseit li barun 

A sei trestut si compaingnun. 

QUant il erent assemblez, 
E Morice lur ad cuntez 
Cum ta^^ent de Osserie 
Par lur grant trecherie 
Un agueite lur unt basti 
Od deu mil homes bien garni. 
Cum les Yrreis lur sunt devant 
Od deu mil homes combatant 
^' En un place pur desturber 
Que nus ne poum par la passe[r], 
Conseil demande, seignur baruns, 
De ceste afere cument le frums." 
Icil responderunt ixxz : 
'^ Le conseil seit sur vus.'* 
A lur ostels sunt turnez 
U einz erent herbergez; 



1340] OF IRELAND. 65 

Asez se tindrint coiment 
Cum de co ne susent nient ; 
E Morice Ossriath 
Al senechal Mac Donehid^ 
Al senescal fist dune mander 
Ki demi an u quarter 
Od le rei voleit remaner. 
Cum il erent avant premer, 
Hastivement mandat li reis 
Que parler venist as Engieis. 
Quant despandu e depople 
La novele iert al contre 
Que Morice esteit remis 
Od le rei de eel pais, 
Les trai'tres sunt repeirez 
Del pas u erent abuchez. 

T A nuit, quant erent endormis, 
-■-^ Ad Morice idunc tramis 
Par un prive valettun 
Que tuz montassent le barun, 
Archer, valet e serjant 



66 THE CONQUEST [1361 

E li petit e li grant ; 
Iceus que voleient passer 
Se feisent tost aparailer. 
Icil sege firent aprester, 
Ne voleient plus demorer, 
Vers la mer co sunt turnez 
Pur passer en lur contrez. 
A Waterford la cite, 
Cum les menat destine, 
Sunt venuz li clievaler 
Seinz e saufs e tut enter. 
La sojornerent li baruns 
Od trestut lur compaignuns ; 
Mes eloec erent desturbez 
Par un home ki ert nafFrez, 
Ke un soudener a pe, 
Un sitliezein aveit naffre, 
Ki de la plaie pus murit. 
Ne le tindrent pas en deduit 
Le cithezeins de la cite 
De Waterford, cum ai cunte. 
Iloec furent atachez 



1383] OF IRELAND. 67 

Tut li barun alosez ; 
Mes par le conseil li bier 
Morice, ki ert lur enparler, 
E par sen e par saver 
Les fist Morice tut passer. 
En Galeis furent tuz arivez 
Seinz e saufs, joius e lez. 
De cele gent ici lerrum, 
Del rei Dermod vus conterum. 

COnter voil del rei Dermod, 
Cum il bailla Weyseford 
A un barun chevaler 
Le fiz Estevene, Robert le bier ; 
E Morice le fiz Gerout 
A Karret pus se affermout 
Par le rei otrei e par le grant 
Dermod le rei poant ; 
Pus apres hastivement 
Li quens Richard od sa gent 
En Yrlande aveit tramis 
Od ses baruns ix. u. x. 



68 THE CONQUEST [1404 

Le premer esteit Reymond le Gros, 

Un chevaler hardi e oz. 

A Domdonuil ariverent 

U chastel pus i fermerent 

Par le otrei li riche reis 

Dermod, que tant esteit curteis. 

Iloec remist le Gros Reymund 

E li chevaler e li barun. 

La tere feseit dune Robert, 

Les vaches prendre e tuer ; 

Mes de Waterford la gent 

E de Osserie ensement 

Lur ost firent assembler, 

Vers Dondonuil voleint aler 

Pur le chastel asailir, 

Les Engleis quident bien honir. 

Del Deys Dovenald Osfelan, 

E de Odrono Orian, 

E tuz les Yrreis de la cuntre 

Le chastel unt avirune. 

Par aime erent les Yrreis 

Desque a quatre mil u treis, 



1426] OF IRELAND. 69 

Reymund e la sue gent 
N^erent mie avant de cent. 
Les vaches mistrent a chastel 
Par Reymund e sun conseil. 
De Waterford icel gent 
Vindrent tut ferement 
Pur le chastel agravanter, 
Les Engleis quident vergunder. 

REymund parole a sa gent : 
" Seignurs baruns, a moi entent. 
Voz enemis veez venir 
Ki vus volerunt asailir. 
Meuz vus vaut a honor cis 
Que ceinz estre mors u pris. 
Ore vus fetes tuz armer, 
Chevaler, serjant e archer; 
Si nus mettrum en plein champ, 
Al non del Pere tut poant.'^ 
Li chevaler e li barun, 
Par le conseil li Gros Reymund, 
Des portes voleient issir 



70 THE CONQUEST [1447 

Pur les Yrrcis cnvai'r. 
Les vac lies ereiit airrcez 
De la gent que erent armez; 
E ])ur la noise que il funt, 
Les vaclics tutes a un frunt 
E a force e a vertuz 
A la portc sunt issuz. 
(Jo in la preinere conrei 
Que del cliastel issi, le crci. 
As Yrreis sunt curru surre 
Kn href ternie, en poi d'ure. 
Les Yrrcis n'el porreint sutfrir, 
A force lur covint partir; 
E Reynmnd od ses Engleis 
So mist entrc les Yrreis. 
Pur c^^o furent dopartiz, 
Les Yrreis crent dcconfiz, 
Si ke le derein conre 
S'en fuerent par eel efirc. 
Iloec esteint desconfiz 
Les Yrreis tuz de eel pais. 
Al camp erent mil remis, 



1469] OF IRELAND. 71 

Vencus, mors, nafFrez e pris 
Par force e par vertu 
Que lur fist le bon Jhesu ; 
E de dute e de poiir 
Cen afailiz erent le jor. 
Des Yrreis esteint pris 
Bien desque a seisant dis ; 
Mes li barun chevaler 
Iceuz firent decoler; 
A un baesse firent bailler 
Une hache tempre de ascer, 
Que tuz les ad decoles 
E pus les cors aphaleises, 
Pur 50 que aveit le jor 
Son ami perdu en Testur; 
Aliz out non de Berveni, 
Que les Yrreis servist isi. 
Pur les Yrreis vergunder 
Unt CO fet li chevaler ; 
E les Yrreis de la tere 
Desconfiz sunt en tele manere, 
Returne sunt en lur pais 



72 THE CONQUEST [1491 

Debaratez e desconfiz, 
En lur pais sunt returnez 
Desconfiz e debaratez. 

A Dundounil remist Reymun 
^ ^ Lui e tut sa compaignun, 
E Hervi de Mumoreci 
E Walter Bluet altresi ; 
Mult se contindrent bien privement 
Contra eel yresche gent. 

O Olum le dit as ansciens, 

^ Bien tost apres, Richard li quens 

A Waterford ariva ; 

Bien quinz cent od sei mena. 

La vile Seint Bartholomee, 

Esteit li quens arive. 

Regenald e Smorch erent clame 

Les plus poanz de la cite. 

Le jor Seint Bartholomee, 

Li quens Richerand al cors sene 

Watreford la cite 



1511] OF IRELAND. 73 

A force pris e conqueste ; 
Mes mult i out occiz einz 
De Waterford les citheinz 
Einz que ele fud conquise 
U a force sur euz prise. 

QUant prise aveit la cite 
Li quens par sa poeste, 
Li quens tantost fist mander 
Al rei Dermod par messager 
Que a Watreford ert arive 
E conquise aveit la cite, 
Que a lui venist li riche reis, 
Si amenast ses Engleis. 
Li reis Dermod hastivement 
I vint, sachez, mult noblement. 
Li reis en sa compaignie 
Asez i mena barunie, 
E sa fille i mena, 
Al gentil cunte la dona. 
Li quens honorablement 
La espusa, veant la gent. 



74 THE CONQUEST [1532 

Li reis Dermod ad dune done 
Al cunte, ki ert tant preise, 
Leynistere lui dona 
Od la fille, que tant ama, 
Ne mes qu'il ust la seignurie 
De Leynistere tute sa vie ; 
E li quens ad tute grante 
Al riche rei sa volente ; 
Pus sunt turne une part 
Li reis e li quens Richard. 
Si alad Reymu[n]d le Gros, 
Un chevaler hardi e oz, 
E Morice tute ensement 
De Prendergast, cum I'entent ; 
Kar od le cunte veraiment 
Repeire fud, solum la gent. 
Par le conseil le cuntur, 
Repeires iert li pugneur. 
A eel conseil de fi 
Esteit Meiler le fiz Henri 
E meint barun chevaler 
Dunt ne sai les nuns numer. 



1554] OF IllELAND. 75 

Iloec pristrent a conseiler 

Tut li barun chevaler 

Que a Develin tut dreit irrunt 

E la cite sauderunt. 

Atant s'en parti li reis 

Vers Femes od ses Engleis, 

Somundre feseit sa gent 

Par tut e forciblement. 

Quant tuz furent assemblez, 

Vers Waterford sunt dreit turnez. 

Li quens Richard ad dune bailie 

Sa gent en warde la cite, 

En Waterforde ad dune lesse 

Une partie de sa meyne. 

Vers Diveline sunt dune turne 

Li reis e li quens preise. 

11 yT Es tut le orguil de Yrlande 
^^-^ A Clondolcan en une lande, 
E de Connoth esteit li reis 
A Clondolcan icele feiz ; 
Pur les Engleis asailer, 



76 THE CONQUEST [1575 

Ses cunreis feseit partir ; 
Les pas firent partut plesser 
Pur les Engleis desturber, 
Que euz ne venissent veraiment 
A Diviline sanz corocement ; 
E le rei Dermod esteit garniz 
Par espie qu'il out tramis 
Que les Yrreis sunt devant 
Bien trent mil combatant. 
Le rei Dermod fist demander 
Le cunte, que venist a lui parler. 
Li quens hastivement 
Al rei vint deliverement. 

" O Ire quens, go dist li reis, 

^ Entendez a moi a ceste feiz : 
Voz gens fetes ordiner 
E vos serjanz renger. 
En cest irrum la montaine, 
En champ dure, en la plaine ; 
Kar les boys sunt plesses 
E les chemins fossaes, 



1596] OF IRELAND. 77 

E tuz nos enemis de Yiiande 
Noz sunt devant en une lande." 

LI quens feseit dune mander 
Tut li barun chevaler. 
Milis vient tut premer, 
Un noble barun guerrer : 
Miles out nun de Cogan, 
Qui le cors out fer e plain. 
Icel esteit al chief devant 
Od set cent Engleis combatant; 
E Dovenald Kevath ensement 
Esteit remis od cele gent; 
E pus apres le Gros Reymun 
Bien od .viij. cent compaingnun, 
Al tiers cunrei li riche reis 
Bien desque a mil Yrreis ; 
E Richard; li quens curteys, 
Od sei s'out .iij. mil Engleis. 
Bien erent en eel eonrei 
Vassals quatre mil, eo crei. 
L'are-warde feseit li reis 



78 THE CONQUEST [1617 

Ordiner des Yrreis. 
Bien esteint trestut armez 
Les baruns Engleis alosez. 
Par la montaine fist li reis 
Le jor guier Tost engleis ; 
Sanz bataille e sanz melle 
Sunt venuz a la cite ; 
Mes la cite esteit le jor 
Prise sanz contreditur. 
Le jor Tapostle seint Mathe, 
Arst Diviline la cite. 

QUant CO virent les Yrreis 
Ke venuz iert Dermod li reis 
E le cunte ensement 
Od tute ses englesche gent, 
La unt iurenez 
Les baruns vassals alosez. 
De Connoth s'en turnat li reis, 
Sanz plus dire, a cele feiz ; 
E les Yrreis de eel pais 
En lur cuntre sunt partiz. 



1638] OF IRELAND. 79 

Mac Turkil Esculf le tricheur 

En la cite remist le jor 

Pur defendre la cite 

De quel il ert clame 

Sire, seignur e avue 

Par trestut la cuntre. 

Dehors les murs de la cite 

Se est li reis herberge ; 

E Richard li bon cuntur, 

Ki des Engleis esteit seingnur, 

Esteit remis od ses Engleis 

E od le cors Dermod li reis. 

Le plus prochein de la cite 

Esteit Milis herberge, 

Li bon Milun de Cogan 

Ke pus sire de Knoc Brandan: 

^0 est trestut le plus foren 

Ke seit a secle, montaine u plein ; 

E Dermod, li reis gentilz, 

Morice Regan ad tramis 

E par Morice ad nuncie 

A cithiceinz de la cite 



80 THE CONQUEST [1660 

Que san delai, san nul respit, 
S'en rendissent san contredit ; 
San nul altre contreditur, 
Se rendissent a lur seignur. 
O stages trente ad demande 
Li reis Dermod de la cite ; 
Mes cil dedenz, san mentir, 
Ne savient entre euz partir 
Les ostages de la cite, 
Le quels serreient al rei livre. 
Hesculf ad dune remande 
A Dermod le rei preise 
Que lendemain hastivement 
Freit tut son commandement, 

1% /rUlt enuet al barun, 

■^^-^ Icil de Cogan, li bon Milun, 

Ki tant remist le parlement 

Entre le rei e tute sa gent. 

Miles escria tut premer : 

^' Barun, Cogan, chevaler !" 

Senz le rei commandement 



1681] OF IRELAND. 81 

E senz le cunte ensement, 
Asaili ad la cite. 
Li ber Miles od sa meyne 
Par orgoil e par hatie 
La cite unt dune envai'e. 
Li ber Miles le lose 
A force ad prise la cite. 
Devant qu'il sust Dermod le jor 
U Richard le bon cuntur, 
Esteit Miles li bier menbre 
En Diviline en fin entre ; 
La cite aveit ja conquise 
E Mac Turkil en fute mise ; 
E la gent de Develin 
Fui s'en sunt par marine ; 
Mes asez i out remis 
Ke en la cite erent occis. 
Asez conquist los le jor 
Miles, qui ert de tel valur ; 
E les baruns alosez 
Asez troverent richetez, 
Asez troverent en la cite 

G 



82 THE COJSQUEST [1703 

Tresor e autre richete. 

Venuz se sunt aitant 

Li reis e li quens brochant, 

A la cite sunt venu 

Li reis e li quens andu ; 

E Miles li barun preise 

Al cunte rendi la cite, 

La cite ad Milis rendu, 

E li quens ad dune receu; 

Asez troverent garisun 

E ben vitaile a grant fuisun, 

Li quens ad dune sojorne, 

Tant cum il plout, en la cite ; 

E li reis est repeire 

Vers Femes en sa cuntre ; 

Mes a la feste Seint Remi, 

Quant aiist esteit departi, 

Tost apres le Seint Michel, 

Richard li quens natural 

A Miles ad, sachez, livere 

En guarde pur veir la cite. 

Vers Waterford s'en est turne 



1725] OF IRELAND. 83 

Li quens od sa grant meyne. 
Li quens i ad sojorne 
Tant cum li vint a gre. 
A Femes pus demorout 
En eel y ver li rei Dermod. 
Li reis, qui tant esteit gentils, 
A Femes gist enseveliz. 

Si est mort le rei Dermot. Propitiiis sit 
Deus anime [ejus'] ! 

TUz les Yrreis de la cuntre 
Sur le cunte sunt tume. 
Des Yrreis a cele feiz 
Od lui ne sunt remis que treis : 
Dovenald Kevath tut premer, 
Ki ert frere a sa muiller ; 
De Tirbrun Macheli^ 
Le tiers Awalap O'Carui, 
E les Yrreis de Okenselath 
Ki erent reis Murierdath. 
Icil moveient pus grant guere 



84 THE CONQUEST [1745 

Sur le cunte de Leynistere; 
E de Connoth, li riche reis, 
De tat Yrlande les Yrreis 
A lui les ad fet mander 
Pur Dyvelin aseger. 
Icil vindrent a un jor 
Que mis lur aveit lur seignur. 
Quant il erent assemblez, 
Seissant mil erent armez. 
A Chastel-Knoc, a cele feiz, 
De Connoth i out li riche reis ; 
E Mac Dunleve de Huluestere 
A Clontarf ficha sa banere, 
E O'Brien de Monestere 
A Kylmainan od sa gent fere ; 
E Murierdath, cum Tentent, 
Vers Dalkei fu od sa gent. 

LI quens al hure en la cite 
Esteit, sachez, de verite. 
Le fiz Estevene de sa gent 
Al cunte tramist erraument, 



1766] OF IRELAND. 

Pur lui aider e succure 
Lui tramist gent a eel ure. 

QUant Robert tramis 
De sa gent ben trente sis 
Pur eider le cunte Richard 
Que tant esteit der regard, 
A Robert sunt curu sure 
Les tra'itres tut sen demure ; 
En la vile de Weyseford 
Sa gent unt occis a tort, 
Sa gent unt trestut trai'z, 
Morz, detrenchez e honiz. 
Dedenz un chastel sur Slani, 
Solum la geste qui'l cunte ici, 
Unt Robert les traitres pris, 
A Becherin en prisun mis ; 
Chevalers unt cine enfin 
Enprisunes en Becherin; 
E Dovenald i vint O'Kevath 
E les Yrreis de Okenselath, 
Venuz esteit a Dyveline 



86 THE CONQUEST [1787 

Al gentils cunte eel termine. 

Od lui vint O'Rageli 

E Awelaph autreci ; 

Al quens unt tretut cunte 

Cum Robert fu enprisune 

E cum sa gent erent occis, 

Desconfiz, mors e traiz. 

Le cunt respont aitant : 

" Dovenald, ne fetes ja semblant, 

Ne fetes ja semblant, amis, 

Ke les nos seint bonis." 

T I quens feseit dune mander 
-*-^ Tut li barun conseiller, 
Que a lui viengent tost parler 
Hastivement, san demorer. 
Robert i vint de Quenci, 
De Ridelisford i vint Water, 
Barun noble guerrer ; 
Morice i vint ensement 
De Prendergast, cum I'entent ; 
E si i vint li bon Milun, 



1808] OF IRELAND. 87 

Suz ciel n'i out meillur barun ; 
E Meiller le fiz Henri, 
E Mills le fiz Davi, 
E Richard i vint de Marreis, 
Chevaler nobles & curteis ; 
E Water Bluet i vint. 
Chevalers baruns desque a xx 
Venuz sunt a lur seignur, 
Tut li barun de grant valur. 
Quant les baruns alosez 
Al conseil erent asemblez, 
Conseil ad li quens requis 
De tuz ces charnals amis : 

^^ O Eignurs, co dist li quens vaillans, 

^ Deu del eel nus seit guarrans ! 
Veez, seignurs, voz enemis 
Que ore vus unt ceinz asis ; 
Si n'avum guer[e]s de manger 
Avant de quinzeine enter 
(Kar la mesure de forment 
Vendeit-rum un marc de argent, 



88 THE CONQUEST [1829 

E de orge la mesure 

Demi marc prist-l'em a eel ure) : 

Par CO, seignurs chevaler, 

Al rei fesmn nuncier." 

Dune li quens alose 

Al rei ad nuncie 

Que sis home devendra, 

Leynistere de lui tendra. 

" /^Re^ seignurs naturals, 

^-^ Al rei de Connoth dous vassals 
Par voz conseilz transmetrum 
E le arcevesque enverrum 
Que feute lui vodra fere : 
De lui tendrai Leynistere." 
IJn arcevesque unt anvee, 
Que seint Laurence pus ert clame. 
Le arcevesque unt dunt tramis 
E de Prendre[gast] od lui Moriz; 
Al rei unt dune nuncie 
Quant le conte out mande. 



1849] OF IRELAND. 89 

LI reis lur ad aitant clist^ 
Sanz terme prendre u respit ; 
Respondu ad al messager 
Que cele ne freit a nul fere ; 
Ne mes sulement Waterford, 
Dyvelyne e Weyseford 
Tant lirreit al cunte Richard 
De tut Yrrlaude a sa part; 
Plus ne durreit i mie 
Al cunte ne a sa compainie. 
Li messagers sunt turne 
Vers Dyvelin la cite ; 
Repeire sunt li messager 
Hastivement, san demorer ; 
En haut dient lur message, 
Oiant trestut li barnage ; 
Al cunte unt dist a estrus 
Que mande li rei orguluz : 
Ne li volt plus doner tere 
En trestut Leynistere, 
Fur sulement les treis citez 
Les quels vus ai devant nomez ; 



90 THE CONQUEST [1871 

E si §0 ne li vent a gre, 
Si asaudrunt la cite ; 
Si eel osfre ne voleit prendre, 
Plus ne volt le reis entendre ; 
Kar lendemain, co dist li reis, 
Asaili serrunt les Engleis. 

QUant le cunte out escute 
Que I'arcevesque ad cunte, 
Dunt feseit li quens hucher 
Milis de Cogan al cors leger: 
^^ Fetes, baruns, tant de gent armer, 
Devant isteres al chief premer ; 
Al nun del Pere tut poant, 
Isterez al premer chief devant.'* 
Quarante chevalers ben sunt 
Od Milis devant al frunt, 
Seisante archers e sent serjanz 
Out Milis a sez comanz. 
Apres, le Gros Reymun 
Od quarante compaignun, 
E si out cent pugners 



1892] OF IRELAND. 91 

E cinquante e dis archers ; 
E pus apres, le bon cuntur 
Od quarante pugneur, 
Od cent serjant aduriz 
E des archerz cinquante dis. 
Mult esteint ben armez 
Chevalers, serjanz e souder. 
Quant li quens estut issuz 
Od ces amis e ces druz, 
Miles CO mist a chef devant 
Od deus cenz vassals combatant ; 
E pus apres, le Gros Reymun 
Ben od deus cent compainun. 
A terce conrei, li quens gentils 
Od deus cent vassals aduris, 
Dovenald Kevennath veraiment, 
Avvelaph O'Carui ensement, 
E de Tirbrun O'Rageli 
Dunt avez avant oi". 
Devant esteint o Milun, 
Cum nus recunte la chansun ; 
Mes les Yrreis de la tere 



92 



THE CONQUEST 



Ne surent ren de eel afere, 

Des baruns si armez 

E de la bataille aparaillez. 



[1914 



1\ Tilis de Cogan tost ynaus 

^^^ Le dreit cliemin ver[s] Finglas 

Ver lur ceiicens ai'lant 

S'en est turne tut batant. 

Quant INIiles esteit aprochez 

U les Yrreis event loges, 

Coo'an escria od sa voiz : 

" Ferez, al nun de la croiz ; 

Ferez, baruns, ne targez mie, 

Al nun Jhesu le fiz Marie ; 

Ftrez, chevalers gentils, 

Sur vos mortels enemis." 

Li barun vassals alosez 

E as loges e as trefs 

Unt les Yrreis asailiz 

E les tente[s] envai's ; 

E les Yrreis desgarnis 

Par mi les landes sunt fuis, 



1935] OF IRELAND. 93 

Fui s'en sunt par la cuntre 
Comme bestes esgarre. 

REymund le Gros altreci 
Sovent reclama sein Davi, 
Les Yrreis ala pursuiant 
Pur acomplir son talant ; 
E Ricard, li bon cuntur, 
Si ben ala fesant le jor, 
Si ben ala li quens fesant 
Que tuz erent amervolant ; 
Et Meiler le fiz Henriz, 
Que tant estait de grant pris, 
Se contint si ferement 
Que se merveillerent la gent. 
Sent e plus i out ossis 
En Bain, u il erent assis ; 
E plus de mil e cine cent 
I out ossis de cele gent, 
E des Engleis i out naufre 
Ne mes un serjant a pe. 
Le champ esteit remis le jor 



94 THE CONQUEST [1955 

A Ricard, le bon cuntur ; 
Et les Yrreis sunt returnez 
Desconfiz e debaretez. 
Cum Deu volait, a cele feis 
Remist le champ a nos Engleis ; 
Tant troverent garnesun, 
Ble, ferin e bacun, 
Desque un an en la cite 
Vittaille urent a plente. 
Vers la cite od sa gent 
S'en veit la cunte mult leement. 

LI quens Ricard al cors leger 
Sa eire fet aparailler, 
Vers Veisseford volt errer 
Pur le barun delivrer. 
Le fiz Estevene le barun 
Unt les trai'turs en prisun, 
De Weiseford liuent enfin 
En prisun en Betberin. 
Divelyn baila a garder 
Al bon Miles le guerrer. 



1977] OF IRELAND. 95 

Atant s'en ala le cuntur 
Ver Weyseford nuit e jor ; 
Tant ad le cunte espleite, 
Par ses jornes tant erre 
E tant de jors e tant de nuiz 
Que en Odrono est venuz ; 
Mes les Yrreis de la cuntre 
Al pas erent assemble, 
Pur encontrer li quens Richard 
Asemblez erent une part, 
Pur asailer les Engleis 
Asemblez erent les Yrreis. 
Li quens Richard od sa gent 
Par mi un pas assurement 
Quidout ben avant passer 
Quant lui vint un encumbrer. 
De Odrono li rei felun, 
Orian ert de li le nun, 
En haut s'est dune escrie : 
" Mar estes, Engles, arive." 
Icil reliout od lui sa gent, 
Les Engleis asaili egrement; 



96 THE CONQUEST [1999 

E les Engleis veraiement 
Se defenderent vassalement ; 
Mes Meiler le fiz Henriz 
Le jor enporta le pris. 
En la bataille, sachez de fi, 
N'i out meillur ke le fiz Henri ; 
E mult esteit le jor preise 
Nichol, un moine a chape ; 
Kar de une sete oscist le jor 
De Drone le seygnor. 
De une sete, cum vus dis, 
lert O'Rian le jor occis; 
E Meiler, le bier menbre, 
De un cop esteit astive 
De une pere en cele guere 
Qu'il chancelad a la tere; 
Mes quant O'Rian esteit occis, 
Les Yrreis se sunt partiz. 
Del boys esteit pus nome 
Le pas le cunte e clame 
Pur CO que la iert asailis 
Le cunte par ces enemis. 



2021] OF IRELAND. 97 

D'Eloc s'en est li quens turne 
Vers Weyseford la cite 
Pur aquiter Robert enprisune, 
Dunt vus ai avant cunte : 
Mes li culvert trai'tur 
N'el voleint rendre al cuntur, 
Vers Becherin s'en sunt fuiz, 
E Weyseford unt en arsun mis ; 
Kar la mer cureit en fin 
Trestut entur Becherin : 
Pur CO ne pout, sonz mentir, 
Li gentils quens a euz venir. 

DUnc s'en est li quens turne 
Vers Waterford od sa meyne, 
Al rei de Lymerich ad mande 
Par ces brefs encele 
Que il venist en Osserie 
Od trestut sa baronie 
Sur Mac Donkid, li reis 
Que de Osserie teneit les leis; 
Kar le rei de Lymerich out 



98 THE CONQUEST [2042 

La fille al riche rei Dermod ; 
La fille Dermod del altre part 
Out a muller le quens Richar, 
Pur CO que urent deus sorur. 
Li reis O'Brien e li cuntur 
S'en vint enforciblement 
En Osserie od sa gent. 
Li quens Richard, le bon cuntur, 
Encontre O'Brien vint le jor 
En Odoth od sa gent fere 
Encontre le reis de Monestere, 
U dous mil homes erent ben 
Li gentil quens e reis O'Brien. 
Mac Donethit un message tramist 
Desque al conte, qui lui dist 
Que il volenters vendreit 
Al cunte u adrescereit 
La hunte e le mefFet 
Dunt li barun unt re tret ; 
Al cunte vendreit en fin parler 
Par si que quite s'en pust realer, 
'Ne mes que Moriz li barun 



2064] OF IRELAND. 99 

De Prendergast, cum nus chantum, 

A mein le prist sur sa fei 

De sauf condure le riche rei ; 

E Morice tut erraument 

Desque al cunte hastivement 

Ala ; li barun gentils, 

La pes del rei del cunte ad pris, 

Li quens li ad respondu ben : 

" Morice, ja mar dutez ren ; 

A mei fetez le rei venir : 

Quant li plerra, s'en put partir." 

E Morice, si cum jo crei, 

De chescun barun par sei 

Aveit pris le serment 

Que amener le pust surement 

E sanement s'en pu partir, 

Quant lui venist a pleisir; 

E Morice le vassal 

Atant munta le cheval, 

Si s'en ala ai'tant 

Cuntre le rei tut brochant, 

Desque ea la curt Tad dune mene 



100 THE CONQUEST [2086 

Devant le cuncte en sauvete. 

LI quens Tad dune acope 
E tut li barun alose 
Mac Donehith de Osserie 
De sa grant trecherie, 
En quel manere il out trai'z 
Li bon Dermod, le rei gentils. 
Li reis O'Brien vet conseiller 
Al gentil cunte guerrer 
Qu'il feit prendre li trecheur, 
Si li feit livrer a deshonur ; 
E li baruns, san mentir, 
Le voleint tuz consentir; 
E reis O'Brien de Monestere 
Sa gent tramist par la tere, 
Sa gent feseit partut aler 
E pur la tere rober, 
Tant cum Mac Donthid esteit 
Devant le cunte e pleideit. 



Q 



Uant Morice le barun 
Garniz esteit del trai'sun, 



2107] OF IRELAND. 101 

Sa gent feseit par tut mander 
Que euz se fesent tost armer. 
Dunt se est Morice cscrie : 
^^ Baruns, ke avez enpense ? 
Voz feiz avez trespassez, 
Vers moi estes parjures." 
Moriz a dist a sa meyne : 
" MunteZ; chevalers enseigne." 
Morice par sa espe ad jure 
N'i ad vassal si ose 
Que sur le rei a icel jor 
La meine i met ad deshonur, 
Lequel seit sen u folie, 
Ne set par mie la teste asuie; 
E Richard, li quens vailland, 
Al barun Morice aitant 
Mac Donethith ad dune bailie 
E par la main li ad livre. 
Atant i munte li barun, 
Lui e tut si compaignun; 
Li reis unt en fin mene 
Desque en boys en sauvete, 
La o:ent O'Brien unt encontre 



102 THE CONQUEST [2130 

Que la tere urent robe, 
E Moriz ad dune occis 
De cele gent u nef u dis ; 
E par force e par valur, 
De la curte sun seignur 
Aveit Moriz e sa meyne 
Li reis en boys le jor mene ; 
E Morice de Prendergast jut 
Od Mac Donkid icele nuit; 
Mes lendemain la matine 
S'est Moriz repeire 
Vers la curt sun seignur. 
Que tant esteit de grant valur. 
Les baruns unt Moriz rete 
Del rei qu'il ad en boys mene, 
Qui eret enemi mortel 
A Richard le bon cunte naturel ; 
Kar cil reis par sa guerre 
Dermod enjeta de Leynistere; 
E Morice a sun grant parlee, 
A son seigneur Tad bailie, 
Qu'en sa curt addressereit 



2152] OF IRELAND. 103 

De quant qu'il mespris aveit. 

Asez Tunt replegeez 

De vassals engleis alosez. 

QUant fini urent icel pleist, 
Li reis O'Brien vers Lymeric veit, 
Li quens s'est dune turne 
Tut dreit vers Femes la cite, 
Uit jors ad sojorne 
Li quens gentil e sun barne. 
Dune ad li quens partut tramis 
Vallez, serjanz e mechins; 
Morthoth O'Brien wnt dune quere 
A munt, a val, par la tere ; 
Tant I'unt quis par le pais 
Que trove Funt pur veir e pris ; 
Tut dreit vers Femes la cite 
O'Brien li fel unc dune mene, 
Al cunte I'ont dune livre 
O'Brien le traitre pruve. 
Pur §0 que trai avet li fel 
Dermod li sires dreiturel, 



104 THE CONQUEST [2173 

Le fist li quens decoler, 

Le cors a guaignu[n]s pus livrer; 

Le chetis I'unt tut devore 

E la char de lui mange; 

E Dovenald Kevenath, un sun fiz, 

Aveit al cunte mene e pris : 

A Femes erent amdeus occis, 

Veant la gent de eel pais. 

De Okencelath li reis yrreis 

Al cunte vint lores a peis : 

Co fu le fel Murtherdath 

Que pus ert reis de Okencelath. 

Li quens li ad dune grante 

De Okencelath la regne ; 

De Leynistere le pleis bailout 

A Dovenald Kevenath, le fiz Dermod, 

Icil deus erent reis clame 

Des Yrreis de la contre. 

En Yrland erent reis plusur 

Cum a Tures erent les cunturs ; 

Mes qui tent Mithe e Leynistere 

E Desmund e Munestere 



2195] OF IRELAND. 105 

E Connoth e Uluestere 
Que jadis tendrent le sis frere, 
Qui celes tenent sunt chef reis 
De Yrlande, sulum les Yrreis. 

QUant le cunte out apeise 
Les Yrreis de la cuntre, 
Dune fist li reis engleis mander, 
Desque al cunte nuncier 
Que, san delai, san contredit, 
San terme prendre u respit, 
Venist li quens hastivement 
A lui parler deliverement ; 
E le cunte al eel termine 
A Milis bailla Develine, 
Une cite mult loe 
Que Hatheleyth iert einz nome ; 
E Waterford la cite, 
Que Port-Largi esteit clame, 
Bailla li quens gentil Richard 
A Gilibert de Borard. 
Li quens se fist dune aprester. 



106 THE CONQUEST [2216 

Vers Engletere volt passer ; 
Passer volt li queiis gentils 
Pur parler al rei Henris, 
Al rei Henri Curt-Mantel 
Que ert si freres dreiturel : 
Ses nefs fist dun apariler 
Pur les undes traverser, 
Passer volt la haute mer, 
Al rei engleis irrad parler. 
Tant c'est li quens espleite 
Que la mer ad ja passe ; 
En Gales esteit arive 
Li quens, que tant esteit dute. 

T I quens Richard, a cele feiz, 
^-^ A Penbroc trova li riche reis. 
Li quens gentil de grant valur 
Par devant le son seignur 
Od ses amis e od ses druz 
Devant son seignur esteit venus. 
Li gentils quens ad salue 
Del fiz le rei de mai'ste ; 



2237] OF IRELAND. 107 

E li reis de bone part 

Respons donat al cunte Richard. 

Li reis respond aitant : 

" Teu te beneie tut puissant !" 

MEs, cum il me fu cunte, 
Auques esteit li quens melle; 
Li quens gentils de grant valur 
Melle esteit a sun seignur. 
Par mensu[n]ge de la gent 
E par maveise entisement 
Esteit Richard, li quens gentils, 
Auques melle al rei Henris. 
Li riche reis nepurquant 
Al cunte feseit beu semblant. 
Semblant ne fist a cele feiz 
De nul coruce li riche reis ; 
Mes mult li honura li rei Henriz, 
Que fiz esteit I'emperiz. 
Atant cum li pugneur 
Esteit remis a son seignur, 
Este-vus un fel aitant 



108 THE CONQUEST [2258 

Vers Dyvelin vint siglant; 

Sus Dyvelin iert arivez 

Hesculf Mac Turkil od cent nefs, 

Mult de gent ad od sei menez 

Bien vint mil aprestez, 

De Eir vindrent e de Man ; 

E de Norwiche i vint Johan 

Un vassal, Johan le Deve 

Ad Mac Turcul od sei mene. 

New ert cil riche reis 

De Norwiche, solum les Yrreis. 

A Steine erent arive 

Hescul e Johan le Deve, 

Dehors Dyveline la cite 

Erent iceus aloge ; 

Par la cite asailir, 

La gent firent de nefs issir. 

Armer se fist li bon Milun, 

Lui e tut si compaignun. 

Defendre se volt li gentil horn 

Tant cum purrat defension ; 

De par Deu omnipotent, 



2280] OF IRELAND. 109 

Defendre se volt vers la gent. 
Atant este-vus un reis 
De eel pais u un Irreis, 
Gylmeholmoth out cil nun, 
A peis esteit al bon Milun ; 
A Milun i vint cil parler, 
Al barun conseil demander ; 
Kar Milun al fer corage 
De eel rei aveit ostage 
Que eil tendreit od le euntur 
Lealment e nuit e jor. 
Li bon Mile al reis ad dist : 
" Entendez, sire, un petit. 
Voz ostages vus frai livrer 
Seinz e saufz e tuz enter. 
Voz ostages averez par si 
Que tu faces co que tu di, 
Par si que ne seez aidant 
Ne nus ne euz tant ne quant, 
Mes que eneoste de nus seez 
E la bataille agarderez 
Par eneoste od ta gent, 



110 THE CONQUEST [2302 

Si que veez apertement 
La melle e la bataille 
Entre nus e euz, san faille ; 
E, si Deus le nus consent 
Que seient desconfiz icele gent, 
Que nus seez od tun poer 
Eidant pur euz debareter; 
E si nus seimis recreant, 
Vus lur seez del tut aidant 
De nus trencher e occire, 
Le noz livrer a martire." 
Li reis li ad ico grant 3, 
Sa fei plevie e j ure, 
Quanque Mills li ad dist 
Freit li reis san nul respit. 

/^^ Ylmeolmoch aitant 
^^ Dehors la cite meintenant 
Se est cil reis pur veir asis 
Od eel gent de sun pais. 
Desur le Hogges de Sustein, 
Dehors la cite, en un plein, 



2323] OF IRELAND. Ill 

Par agarder la melle 
Se sunt iloque asemble. 
Pur agarder icel estur, 
Gylmeholmoch se sist le jor, 
En une place vereiment 
Se sist od sa meine gent. 

T7^ Ste-vus Johan le Deve 
-*^ Vers Dyvelyn tut serre, 
Vers la cite od sa gent, 
En dreite la porte del orient, 
Vers la porte Seint-Marie, 
La cite unt dune asaillie ; 
E Milis, od le hardi chere, 
Un barun vassal out a frere. 
Ricard out icil a nun, 
Frere esteit al bon Milun. 
Icil se feseit ben armer, 
Od liii ben trent chevaler. 
Pur la dute del Occident 
Issus sunt tut privement 
Si que nuls ne saveit 



112 THE CONQUEST [2344 

Nis nul que sunt frere esteit ; 
E Mills sa gent ad ordine, 
Defendre voleit la cite, 
Les serjanz feseit avant aler 
Pur lanceer e segeter. 
Icels tut dreit as muraus, 
Pur defendre les kerneus, 
Se turnerent ai'tant 
Li archer e li serjant; 
E Miles, que tant esteit hardis, 
Od tuz les chevalers de pris 
En lurs chevals erent muntes, 
Des armes garniz e aprestez. 
Les gent Johan par hatie 
La cite unt dune envai'e, 
E les Engleis de grant valur 
Se defenderent ben le jor ; 
E Ricard esteit venus, 
Einz qu'il ert aperceuz, 
Sur la garde que ert detrefs ; 
Si's ad forment escriez. 
Ricard s'escrie aitant : 



2366] OF IRELAND. 113 

" Feres, chevalers vaillant." 
E li barun par grant vertuz 
En la presse sunt feruz. 
Mult fu grant la melle 
E li hu e la crie, 
E Johan ad dune assente 
La noise des trefs e la hue, 
De la cite s'est partiz, 
Succurre volt ses amis 
Ki trefs erent remis, 
Ne sai le quel, nef mil u dis. 
Parti s'en est de la cite 
Icil Johan e sa meyne 
Pur succure lur gent detrefs 
Qu'il ne seient debaretez ; 
E Miles li alose 
Issuz esteit de la cite, 
Issuz fu od sa gent, 
Od vassals armes ben treis cent 
Estre tut li autre meyne, 
Archers, serjans e joude a pe. 
Devant que Miles esteit issuz, 
I 



114 THE CONQUEST [238^8 

Cine cent erent abatuz ; 

E eels cine cent erent nasfrez 

Que ja ne serrimt resanez. 

QUant Miles esteit venuz 
E vassals engleis menbruz. 
Miles s'est dune escriez : 
" Feres, baruns alosez ! 
Feres, vassals, hastivement ; 
N'esparniez icel gent !" 

QUant al champ esteit Milun 
Lui e tut si compaignun, 
Mut esteint esbauduz 
Les vassals engleis aduriz. 
Cum Deu le volt tut poant, 
Par sa vertu que tant est grant, 
Solum le dit Testorie, 
As Engleis dona la victorie ; 
Mes des Engleis a icel jor 
Esteit Ricard de tut la flun 
Mut i out grant discipline 



2408] OF IRELAND. 115 

De cele gent lee la marine. 

Fui se sunt ai'tant 

E li petit e li grant 

De eel grant hu qu'erent meue 

Hesculf e Johan le Deve. 

QUant Gylmeholmoch, sachez, li reis 
Vist fuir les Northwicheis 
E oil de Eir e cil de Man, 
La meine Hesculf e Johan, 
E li reis pur veir se vist 
Que cil erent desconfist, 
En pes s'en est li reis saili, 
A haute voiz hautement cri : 
" Ore sus, seignurs vassals ! 
Aidum as Engleis naturals. 
Ore, sus tost ! si aiderum 
A bon Ricard e a Milun." 
E les Yrreis ai'tant 
De tut pars wnt occiant, 
Occiant wnt de tut pars 
E de gavelocs e de dars 



116 THE CONQUEST [2429 

Icele gent ki erent venus 
Od Esculf li veil chanuz ; 
E cil s'en wnt desconfiz 
En boys, en pleinz, en larris. 
Que vus devoroie plus dire ? 
Mil e cine cent artire 
Erent remis a icel jor 
Mors, detrenchez a dolur. 
Veir go dient les asquanz, 
Dous mil vassals combatanz 
Erent le jor pur veir remis 
Ki enz al champ erent occis. 

MEs cil Johan le Deve 
Esteit vassal ben alose ; 
Kar cil Johan en la melle 
De une hache ben tempre 
Cosuit le jor un chevaler 
Que la quisse lui fist voler, 
Od tut la hache de fer blanc 
Lui fist voler la quisse al champe. 
Bien ad cil le jor occiz 



2450] OF IRELAND. 117 

De nos Engleis nef u dis ; 
Mes li bon Mills de Cogan 
Occist le devant-dit Johan ; 
E Ricard le jor, son faille, 
Hesculf prist en la bataille ; 
E les chanz e les larriz 
Erent couvers de occiz. 
Sachez-le tuz pur veir, san faille, 
Mout i out en la bataille 
Le jor en fin destructiun 
E des Engleis perdicion. 

ASez i ganerent tresor 
Les Engleis, argent e or ; 
E Milis e sa meyne 
Vers Dyviline sunt turne. 
Quant venus sunt a la cite, 
Hesculf unt dune decole ; 
Pur sa grant desmesure 
Descole Punt a dreiture. 
Pur sun orgoil e ses fous dis ; 
Pus que Ricard Hesculf out pris 



118 THE CONQUEST [2471 

Decole Tunt hastivement, 

Veant la marine gent. 

Fui s'en sunt par la montaine 

Les Norwicheis e par la plaine, 

Les eskauz as nefs turnerent, 

La mer passer ben quiderent ; 

Mes les Engleis lur sunt detrefs 

Que lur contredient les nefs. 

Si la fuissez a icel jor, 

Des homes Hesculf li trecheur 

V cent veisez le jor plunger 

Desque a la parfund de la mer. 

Issi erent verament 

-Desconfiz la marine gent. 

Le champ urent le jor vencu 

Les Engleis par la Deu vertu. 

Les autres erent departri, 

Mort, naflPrez e deconfiz. 

En lur pais veraiment 

De eel Norwicheis gent 

Ne revindrent que dous miller 

Pur lur dreitures chalenger. 



2493] OF IRELAND. 119 

Issi larrum la reisun 
Del boil Ricard e de Milun, 
Del rei engleis vus conterum, 
Henri od fere facun. 

nr^Ant cum li reis nnt sur la mer 
-*- A Penbrocscire pur passer, 
Atant este-vus al port 
Traiterez duzze de Weyseford 
Arive sunt en un batele 
A Penbroc dreit suz le castel. 
Tantost cum erent arivez, 
Vers le castel sunt turnez ; 
Parler voleint li fel 
Al rei Henri Curt-Mantel. 
Tant unt les traitres espleite 
Que al paleis sunt entre 
Par devant le rei Henris, 
Ke fiz esteit Temperiz, 
Et si li saluent hautement 
De Deu le pere omnipotent. 
Li riche reis erraument 



120 THE CONQUEST [2514 

Lur respondi docement 

Ki ben seint venuz, 

Ses bien voillanz e ses druz. 

" nnEl tenez, scire, a folur, 

-^ ^o li unt dist li traitur, 
Si vus dirrum, sacez les tuz, 
Pur quei eimes venus a vus : 
Pris awm vostre felun, 
Robert Fiz Estephene ad nun, 
Ki jadis vus fist boidie, 
Sovent grant mal e tricherie ; 
Plusurs feiz vus unt fet guerre 
En Gales e en Engletere, 
En Yrlande vint od navire, 
Livrer nus volt a martire, 
Destrure volt nostre pais, 
Sovent nus mist de mal en pirs. 
En un chastel I'awm pris. 
En prison forte I'awm mis ; 
A tei rendrum, gentil reis, 
Que sire estes des Engleis; 



2535] OF IRELAND. 121 

E vus, gentil rei preise, 

Descofret ta volente." 

Li reis lur ad respondii : 

" Par tel covenant been seez venu 

Que vus me facez livrer celui 

E pus go que frai de lui/^ 

E cil li unt asuere, 

Pur veir pramis e jure, 

Tantost cum erent passe la mer, 

Al rei Henri, que tant est fere, 

Lui frunt Robert en fin livrer 

E tut li altre chevaler 

Tant cum il unt en prisun 

E en lur possessiun. 

SEignurs, ore vus voil dire 
Pur que li prist si grant ire 
Li reis, que tant ert enseigne, 
Del barun Robert I'alose ; 
Kar li reis veraiment, 
A ki Engletere apent, 
Mut amout li barun 



122 THE CONQUEST [2556 

Que cil tindrent en prisun : 

Pur CO aveit li reis pour 

Que li felun traitur 

Le bon Robert feseient murthrir, 

Vergunder u hunir : 

Pur go feseit li rei semblant 

De coruz e de ire grant 

Que il aveit vers le barun, 

Pur la dute de tra'isun 

Ke feseint li tricheur 

Envers Robert li pugneur. 

T I reis Tad dune mercie 
^-^ A trai'tres de lur laute, 
Ki sun enemi unt pris, 
En bues e en avans mis, 
E de CO que pramis Tunt 
Que Robert livrer li frunt. 
Atant unt lur congie pris 
Les traitres del rei Henris, 
Si s'en wnt vers lur ostal 
En la cite principal. 



2577] OF IRELAND. 123 

Iloec attendrent lur vent 
Li reis e euz eiisement. 

Olez, seignurs, del rei Henriz, 
Que fiz esteit remperiz, 
Cum il volt la mer passer 
E Yrlande conquester 
Trestut par le loement 
Del gentil conte, solum la gent. 
Le rei Henri est dune passez 
En Yrlande od ses nefs. 
Li reis ad dune od sei menez 
Quatre cent chevalers armez. 
Li rei Henri, quant eskipa, 
A la Croiz en mer entra ; 
A Pemleocshire a cele feiz 
En mer entra li riche reis. 
Od lui passa li gentil quens, 
Solum le dist des anciens. 
A Waterford li gentil reis 
Ariva od quatre mil Engleis 
A la Tusseinz veraiment, 



124 THE CONQUEST [2598 

Si la geste ne nus ment ; 
Devant la feste sein Martyn 
En Yrlande vint li reis en fin. 
Od le rei erent passez 
Vassals ben aparentes. 
Willame le fiz Audeline 
Od lui vint a eel termine, 
Umfrei de Boiin altresi, 
Le barun Huge de Laci. 
Si vint od le cors le rei 
Le fiz Bernard, Robert, co crei. 
Un barun i vint alose, 
Bertram de Verdun iert clame. 
Cuntes, baruns de grant pris 
Asez vindrent od le Henris. 

T I quens par sun eiudegre 
-L^ Al rei rendi la cite, 
Al reis rendi Waterford 
Par sun gre e par sun cord, 
Homage de Leynistere 
Fist a rei de Engletere, 



2619] OF IRELAND. 125 

Li quens de grant valur 

Homage fist a sun seignur. 

Leynistere lui ad grante 

Li riche reis en herite. 

Li rei Henri, al cors gailard, 

Al barun Robert le fiz Bernard 

Waterford ad la cite 

Al fiz Bernard idunc bailie. 

QUant li reis iert arive 
A Waterford en sauvete, 
Este-vus les traitres, 
Que de Weyseford erent seignurs, 
Le fiz Estephene en unt mene 
Par devant lui en anele 
En Waterford la cite, 
Al cors le rei li unt livre. 
Li reis recent le cors, 
Veant baruns e cuntors. 
Hoc I'encupa li reis gentils 
De quantque il aveit mespris 
Envers lui, ki ert sun seignur. 



126 THE CONQUEST [2640 

Par devant le traitur. 

Le fiz Estephene pleja sun guant, 

Al rei le tendi meintenant : 

De quantque lui saverat retter 

Lui vodrat Robert adrescer 

En sa curt mult volenters 

Par la garde de tuz sez pers. 

Asez le plegerent errant 

Franceis, Flamengs e Normand. 

De Waterford le rei Henris 

S'en turnat od ses marchis, 

Vers Dyvelin od sa gent 

Ala sanz delaement. 

La cite lui rendi errant 

Ricard, li gentil quens vaillant. 

Dyvelin li rei Henri 

A Huge baillad de Laci, 

E cil ad pus garde 

Par commandement le rei la cite ; 

E li reis de Engletere 

D'iloc turnat vers Monestere, 

Vers la cite de Cassele 



2662] OF IRELAND. 127 

Turnat li reis od sa gent bele, 

U al ore esteit lesse 

De Monestere le archevesche. 

De Cassele turnat avant 

Vers Lysmor li rei pussant, 

Li rei Henri Curt-Mantel 

A Lismor voleit un chastel 

Fermer : se volt li rei Henriz, 

Que fiz esteit li emperiz. 

Ne sai pur quei, mes nepurquant 

A eel feiz remist atant. 

T /"Ers Leynestere s'est turnez 
^ Li reis engleis a cele feiz, 
Ver Leynistere la garnie 
Turnat od sa cheva[le]rie. 
Dis e wit simeins, plus ne meins. 
Solum le dist as anciens, 
Remist le due de Normandie 
En Yrlande od sa baronie. 
De Normandie a cele feis 
Esteit dues li riche reis ; 



128 THE CONQUEST [2683 

De Gascoine e de Britaine, 

De Peito, de Ango e de Almaine 

Esteit li rei Henris clame 

Sire, solum I'antiquite. 

En Yrlande esteit li reis 

Bien quinzeine e quatre meis. 

En la terre, a mont, a val, 

Errout li reis natural. 

La vitaille esteit trop chere 

Par trestut Leynestere, 

Kar ne lur vint garnesun 

Ne nul autre region. 

A Dyvelin esteit li rei Henriz, 

E a Kyldare li quens gentils. 

Li quens sujorneit 

Od tant de gent cum il aveit. 

Tant cum li reis preise 

En Dyvelin iert la cite, 

Este-vus un mes batant 

De Engletere vint batant. 

Este-vus un messager 

Al rei vint nuncier 



2705] OF IRELAND. 129 

Que Henri sun fiz eine 
Esteit pur vers sur lui turne 
E qu'il li volt de Normandie 
Tut tolir la seignurie. 

T Ores fist li rei mander 

-Li Huge de Laci tut premer 

E ses cuntes e ses vassals 

E ses baruns naturals. 

Li riche rei ad dune bailie 

Dyvelin en garde la cite . - 

E le chastel e le dongun 

A Huge de Laci le barun, 

E Waterford del autre part 

Al barun Robert le fiz Bernard. 

Le fiz Estephene a eel termine 

Esteit remis a Dyveline, 

E Meiler le fiz Henri 

E Miles le fiz Davi ; 

Od Huge erent icil remis 

Par commandement le rei Henris. 



130 THE CONQUEST [2725 

irp Ynces que a eel termine 

^-^ Li reis depart! de Dyveline, 

A Huge de Laci ad done 

Mithe tut en erite, 

Mithe donat li guerrer 

Pur cincquante chevaler 

Que li barun feist aver 

Le servise quant eust mester ; 

A un Johan Uluestere, 

Si a force la peust conquere. 

De Curti out a nun Johan, 

Ki pus sufFri meint [a]han. 

Pus s'en alad li reis al port 

Vers la cite de Weyseford, 

Ses nefs feseit aparailler 

A tut li mestre notinier ; 

E Ricard li quens preise 

Vers Femes turnat la cite, 

Sa fille i ad marie, 

A Robert de Quenci Tad done. 

Hoc esteit le mariage 

Veant tut le barnage ; 



2747] OF IRELAND. 131 

A Robert la donat de Quenci 
E tut le Duftir altresi, 
Le conotable de Leynestere 
E Tensegne e la banere. 
Del conte voil ici lesser, 
A ma materie repeirer ; 
Wdra, seignurs, sacliez de fi, 
Parler del riche [rei] Henri. 

T I reis demorat a la mer 
J^^ A Weyseford pur passer. 
Li reis gentil est done passe, 
A Portfinan arive. 
Od lui passa li bon Milun 
E meint vassal e meint barun. 
A demi lui de Sein-Davi 
Ariva li rei Henri, 
E li reis vers Normandie 
Alad od sa grant seignurie. 
Pur un sun fiz guerrer. 
Que lui volt deseriter. 
Guerre out li riche reis 



132 THE CONQUEST [2768 

En Normandie des Franceys. 
En Yrlande esteit remis 
Li gentil quens od ses amis, 
A Kyldare sujornout 
Od tant de force cum il out^ 
So vent alad en OfFali 
Pur rober O'Dimesi. 
O'Dimesy iert dune clame 
De OfFali sire e avue. 

T I quens alad en OfFailie 
^-^ Od tut sa chevalerie 
Pur preer e pur rober 
O'Dymesi ki tant iert fer 
Que al cunte deignout parler, 
O stages ne li volt livrer, 
Al cuncte ne volt a pes venir. 
O^Dymesy od la sue gent 
Mult se contint vassalment, 
O'Dymesy lores, san mentir, 
Centre li quens veraiment 
A qui Leynestere apent. 



2789] OF IRELAND. 133 

QUant ]i cuncte od sa meyne 
En OfFailie esteit entre, 
Robert feseit dune la tere 
En boys, en plains, les vaches quere. 
Quant il aveit assemble 
La preie de tut la cuntre, 
Vers Kyldare sunt repeires 
Les baruns engleis aloses. 
Li quens esteit al frunt devant 
Od mil vassals combatant, 
Le conestable esteit destrefs 
En Tarere-garde remes. 
Tut dreit al issir del pas 
Lur currut sure tost vias, 
Sur lur currut O'Dymesy 
E les Yrreis de OfFaili ; 
L'arere-garde unt asailiz 
Les tuz de eel pais. 
Le jor enfin esteit occis 
De Quenci Robert li [genjtis, 
Que tut Tenseigne e le penun 
De Leynestere la regiun, 



134 THE CONQUEST [2811 

A qui li quens aveit done 
La conestablerie en herite. 
Mult fu depleint, sachez de fi, 
Le barun Robert de Quenci, 
E mult esteit en grant tristur 
Pur sa mort sun bon seignur. 

QUant cil Robert esteit occis, 
Le cors unt ben ensevelis. 
Une fille pur vers aveit 
Robert, qui tant gentils esteit, 
De sa espuse veraiment, 
Solum le anciene gent, 
Que pus iert done a un barun : 
Phelip de Prendergast out nun, 
Le fiz Moriz Ossriath, 
Ki pus vesquist O'Kencelath. 
De cil Phelip voil lesser, 
Del gentil cunte voil parler 
E de un barun chevaler, 
(Reymund le Gros Toi nomer) 
Cum cil barun de grant valur 



2832J OF IRELAND. 13c 

Al cunte requist sa sorur 
Que lui donast a muiller 
E a amie e a per 
Od tut la conestablie 
De Leynestere le garnie, 
Desque Tenfant fust de eel age 
Que tener pust sun heritage 
La fille Robert de Quenci, 
Dunt avez avant oi, 
U desque fud ele done 
E a tel home marie 
Qui pust guier la banere 
E le seigne de Leynistere. 

REspondi ad li gentils quens 
Qu'il n'esteit pas conseilles 
De fere le peticiun 
Dunt li requist le barun. 
Atant s'en parti Reymun 
Lui e tut si compainun, 
Congie prist par mal talent 
Del cunte trestut erraument, 



136 THE CONQUEST [2853 

En Gales pus en fin passout 

Pur le ire que il out 

Del cunte que lui escondist 

De la requeste que lui requist. 

Issi en tele manere 

Departi Reymund de la terre, 

Vers Gales passa la mer, 

A Karreual a sojorner. 

Del Gros Reymund issi lerrai, 

Del rei engleis vus conterai 

Cum il par messagier tramist. 

Desque al cunte fist nuncier 

En Yrlande par messagier 

Que lui venist en ai'e 

Hastivement en Normandie, 

Kar mult esteit en grant penser 

De sa tere governer 

E de garder sun pais 

Encontre le jouene rei sun fiz ; 

E li quens de grant valur 

Pur aider a sun seignur 

La mer passa vers Normandie, 



■■hr'"^ 



2875] OF IRELAND. 137 

Asez mena chevalerie ; 
En Yrlande ad lesse 
Chevalers, serjanz e joude a pe 
Pur la tere conquester, 
K'il n'el pussent euoiter 
La leger gent de eel pai's^ 
Que erent tuz ses enemis. 

QUant le cunte naturel 
Al rei Henri Curt-Mantel 
Esteit venus par devant, 
Mult esteit li reis joiant. 
Dune li ad li reis livre 
Gisorz en garde la cite, 
E le eunte par grant docur 
Respondi a sun seignur 
Que volunters, sen mentir, 
Tant li vendreit a pleisir ; 
La cite en fin gardereit 
Tant cum al gentil rei plerreit. 
Tant ad le cunte ben servi 
A sun seignur le rei Henri 



138 THE CONQUEST [2896 

Que li reis, sen feintise, 
Mult se loeit de sun servise. 

T I riche reis sei demande 
^-^ De repeirer en Yrlande, 
Conge donat al guerrer 
En Yrlande de repeirer. 
Weyseford clamat li reis 
Al cunte quit a cele feiz ; 
Si li baillat la marine, 
Waterford e Dyveline. 
Dune fist li reis mander 
Tut li barun chevaler, 
Quant il out a Waterford, 
A Dyveline e a Weyseford, 
Que deques a lui hastivement 
Vengent par sun commandement. 
Li gentil quens, sachez de fi, 
En tele manere s'en departi. 
En mer entra aitant. 
Vers Yrlande va siglant, 
Siglant va la haute mer 



2917] OF IRELAND. 139 

Li gentil cunte guerrer ; 
Tant ad curru par marine 
Que venus est a Dy[ve]line. 
Dune manda li quens Ricard 
Le barun Robert le fiz Bernard 
E tuz le baruns vassals 
Que se clamerent reals, 
De Waterford la cite, 
Chevalers, baruns e meyne, 
A chescun barun par sei 
Par le commandement le rei, 
Que tuz passassent la mer 
En Normandie li reis aider ; 
E le cunte derichef 
A Waterford tramist par bref, 
As baruns manda altretel 
De part le rei Curt-Mantel 
K'il passassent san demore 
En Normandie li reis succurre. 
Le fiz Estephene altresi 
La mer passa al rei Henri ; 
E Moriz Ossriath, 



140 THE CONQUEST [2939 

Ki pus mist en O'Kencelath ; 

!E Huge de Laci, qui tant iert fer, 

Pur sa terre herberger, 

Vers Mithe s'en est turne 

Od meint vassal alose. 

De cil Huge ne voil plus dire, 

Des baruns vassals vus voil descrire. 

QUant passes erent les baruns, 
Tut dreit en joing druvesuns 
Vers Lundris tut dreit turnerent 
Od tant de gent cum il erent. 
A I'ur esteit, sachez, grant guerre 
Par trestut Engleterre; 
Kar d'Eschose li riche reis 
Guerrout li reis engleis ; 
E de Leycestre lors li quens, 
Solum li dist des anciens, 
Sur sun seignur esteit turne 
E Flemenges aveit mene : 
Destrure trestut Engletere 
Quidout cil par lur guerre 
Tant cum le fiz Temperiz 



2961] OF IRELAND. 141 

En Normandie guerrout sun fiz ; 
E li vassal e li barun 
De Engletere la regiun 
Les Flemenges encontre unt 
A la cite Seint-Eadmund. 
Iloec erent deconfiz, 
De Leycestre le conte pris ; 
Deconfiz erent en tel manere 
Par le succurs de Leynestere ; 
E par la force des Yrreis 
Remist le champ a gent engleis ; 
E si refu dedens eel meins 
Li reis pris e conqueis ; 
E les baruns de Yrlande, 
Ki unt este en eel brande, 
En Normandie sunt tuz passez 
E la novele al rei contez 
Cum les Flemengs erent occis 
E le rei d'Eschoce pris. 

" T TA ! dist li reis, Deu, tei aiire, 

-"--■- Ki pere estes e creature, 
Quant fet me avez icel amur 



142 THE CONQUEST [2983 

Que pris sunt mi traitur/' 

/^lez, seignurs, baruns vaillant, 

^^ Que Deus de eel vus seit guarant! 

Del reis engleis voil lesser, 

Ki tant par est nobles e fer, 

Del gentil conte voil parler 

E de ses envers treiter, 

Cum le conte natural 

Par Yrlande, a munt, a val, 

Errout, sachez, od gent fere 

Par trestut Leynestere. 

DUnc fist le conte passer 
Un son demeyn latinier, 
Al Gros Reymund fist nuncier 
Qui tost a lui venist parler, 
Si li durreit a uxor 
Le gentil conte sa sorur. 
Dune se aparilla Reymun, 
Od lui meint vassal barun. 
A Weyseford sunt arivez, 



3003] OF IRELAND. 143 

Solum I'estorie, od treis nefs. 

A Tant tramist le Gros Reymun 
^ ^ Desque al cunte par un garsun 
Ki tut li ad le veir cunte, 
Cum Keymund iert arive, 
E ke le cunte sun talent 
Al barun mandast hastivement. 
Li gentil quens a eel feez 
A Waterford iert la citez, 
Desque a Reymund ad mande 
Que tut li freit sa volente, 
Si remanda altresi 
Que desque al iddle de Instepheni 
Encontre lui a parlement 
Venist Reymund od sa gent. 
Dune se aparilla Reymund 
Lui e tut si compaignun, 
Desque al iddle est turne, 
Si cum le conte out mande ; 
E le conte ensement 
I vint a mult bele gent. 



144 THE CONQUEST [3024 

T I quens gentis de grant valur 

^-^ I menad lores sa sorur. 

Iloec unt tut purparlee 

Le cunte e li barun menbree 

De sa sorur marier, 

Al Gros Reymund la fra doner. 

D'iloc s'en turnerent errant 

Vers Weyseford combatant. 

Sa sor i ad li quens mene, 

Al Gros Reymund Tad dune done 

E le seigne e la banere 

De trestut Leyniestere, 

Desque Fenfant seit del age 

Que tenir peut son heritage 

La fille Robert de Quenci, 

Dunt avez avant oi. 



"^ /TEs pus la prist un vassal, 
..yJL Phelip, un barun natural: 
Do Prendergast esteit clame, 
Un barun vassal alose. 
^0 fu celui, sachez tuz, 



3045] OF IRELAND. 145 

K'al matin iert greins e nus, 
Apres manger frans e duz, 
Curteis, largis as trestuz ; 
Tant cum la cape out fuble, 
De ire esteit tut dis enfle ; 
Quant al matin fust digne, 
Sus eel n'ut home plus heite. 
Icil tint plus longement 
Le conestablie, solum la gent ; 
Mult esteit icil preise, 
De tute gens esteit ame, 
Asez esteit de fer corage 
E de mult grant vassallage. 
De lui ne voil ici conter, 
A ma materie voil repeirer : 
Ws dirrai, seignurs, gentil barun, 
Parler voil del Gros Reymun, 
Cum le cunte guerrer 
Sa sor donat a muiller : 
Fothord li donat li cuntur 
A mariage od sa sorur ; 
Pus li ad, sachez, done 

L 



146 THE CONQUEST [3067 

Odrono tut en herite, 

E Glaskarrig ensement 

Sur la mer ver le orient ; 

Sur la mer donat Obarthi 

A Hervi de Momorci. 

Li quens Ricard le vaillant 

A Moriz de Prendergast devant 

Fernegenal aveit done 

E par son conseil conferme 

Devant li quens preise 

En Yrlande fust arive ; 

C. feiz li dona par tele divise 

Pur dis chevalers servise. 

Si en Fernegenal mist sun plein, 

Si I'ust Moriz del plus prosein. 

Ne sai coment, sachez, Robert 

La tint pus, fiz Godebert ; 

Karebri donat al bon Meiler, 

Ki tant esteit nobles ber ; 

Li quens Ricard pus donout 

A Moriz le fiz Geroud ; 

Lenas donat le bon cuntur 



3089] OF IRELAND. 147 

Al fiz Geroud od tut le onur : 

^0 est la terre de Ofelan 

Ki fud al traitur Mac Kelan ; 

Si li donat Winkinlo 

Entre Bree e Arklo : 

^o fud la tere de Kylmantan, 

Entre ad Cleth e Lochgarman. 

Li gentil quens altresi 

Vint feiz en Omorethi 

Donat en fin a Water 

De Riddelisford, li guerrer ; 

Johan de Clahaule la marchausie 

De Leynestere la garnie 

Od tut la tere, sachez de fin, 

Entre Eboy e Lethelyn ; 

A Robert de Burmegam 

OfFali al west de Osfelan ; 

Adam de Erford ensement 

Donat riche feffement ; 

E a Milis le fiz Davi, 

Ki tant esteit prive de li, 

O Robert en Osserie 

Li ad done a sa partie ; 



148 THE CONQUEST [3112 

A Thomas le Flemmeng ad done 
Ardri, veant son barne ; 
Ofelineth donad sur la mer 
Li quens a un chevaler, 
A Gilebert de Borard 
Donad li quens a sa part ; 
Li gentil quens, que tant fu fer, 
Xv. feiz donat sur la mer 
A un barun chevaler : 
Reinand IVi nomer. 
Li quens Ricard fiz Gilbert 
Le Norrath donad a un Robert, 
Ki pus esteit pur veir occis 
En Connoth par ses ennemis. 
En tel manere li quens preise 
Sa tere ad partie e done. 
Del gentil conte issi larrai, 
De Huge de Laci vus conterai, 
Cum il fefFa ses baruns, 
Chevalers, serjanz e garsunz. 

CHastel-Knoc tut premer donat 
A Huge Tyrel, k'il tant amat ; 



3134] OF IRELAND. 149 

E Chastel-Brec, solum I'escrit, 

A barun Willame le Petit, 

Marcherueran altresi 

E la tere de Rathkeuni ; 

Le Cantref pus de Hadhnorkur 

A Meiler, qui ert de grant valur, 

Donad Huge de Laci 

Al bon Meiler le fiz Hervi ; 

A Gilibert de Nangle en fin 

Donat tut Makerigalin ; 

A Jocelin donat le Nouan 

E la tere de Ardbrechan 

(Li un ert fiz, li altre pere, 

Solum le dit de la mere) ; 

A Richard tuit ensement 

Donad riche fefFement ; 

Rathwor donat altresi 

Al barun Robert de Lacy ; 

A Richard de la Chapele 

Tere donad bone e bele ; 

A GefFrei de Constentyn Kelberi 

A memes de Rathei Marthi ; 



150 THE CONQUEST [3156 

E Sc'n ad pus enchartre, 
Adam de Feipo Tad pus done ; 
A Gilibert de Nungent, 
A Willam de Muset ensement 
Don at teres e honurs, 
Veant baruns e vassaiirs ; 
E al barun Huge de Hose 
Terre bele ad pus done ; 
Adam Dullard altresi 
La terre de Rathenuarthi ; 
A un Thomas ad done 
De Cravile en herite 
Eymelath Began tute en peis 
(Al nor est de Kenlis), 
Lachrachalun ensement ; 
E Sendouenath, solum la gent, 
Donat Huge de Lacy 
A cil Thomas, sachez de fi; 
Grandone pus a un barun, 
Ricard le Flemmeng out a nun, 
XX feiz li donat veraiment. 
Si la geste ne vus ment. 



3178] OF IRELAND. 151 

Un mot fist cil jeter 
Pur ses enemis grever, 
Chevalers retint e bele gent, 
Archers, serjanz ensement 
Pur destrure ses enemis : 
Sovent les mist de mal en pirs ; 
Mes pus lur survint O'Karvel 
Ki reis esteit de Yriel, 
E Mac Donleue le felun 
De Uluestere la regiun. 
Ororig i fud en fin, 
E le rei Malathlin. 
Bien vint mil a eel feiz 
Lur survindrent gent yrreis ; 
Mult egrement lur asaillerent, 
E les baruns se defendirent. 
Tant cum wnt, defension 
Aver poreint en lur meison ; 
E les Yrreis de tutes pars 
Gavelocs lancerent e dars. 
La meyson unt pur veir mal mise 
E la meyne dedens occise ; 



152 THE CONQUEST [3200 

MeS mult i out einz occis 
Des Yrreis del north pais. 
Sachez, Les tuz en tel manere 
Esteit herberge la tere 
E de chastels e de cites, 
De dunguns e de fermetes 
Ki ben est aracinez. 
Les gentils vassals aloses 
E le cunte out ja conquise 
De Leynestere ses enemis ; 
Kar vers sei aveit Murtherdath, 
E pus Dovenald Keuanath, 
Mac Donthod e Mac Dalwi, 
O'Morthe e O'Dymesi, 
O'Duvegin le veil flori, 
O'Brien de Dufthre altresi, 
Gylmeholmoc e Mac Kelan, 
E de O'Barthy O'Lorcan ; 
E tuz les ostages de pris, 
De Leynestere les plus gentils, 
Out li quens, sachez, vers sei 
Solum le anciane lei ; 



3222] OF IRELAND. 153 

E cil de Laci pus Hugun 

A Trym ferma une meisun, 

E fosse j eta envirun, 

E pus Tenclost de hireson ; 

Dedens la meysun ad pus mis 

Chevalers baruns de grant pris, 

Pus comandast le castel 

En la gard Huge Tyrel, 

Al port ala pur passer 

Vers Engletere la haute mer ; 

Mes de Connoth Tentendeit 

Li reis, qui a eel contemple esteit. 

Que Huge un chastel aveit ferme : 

De la novele esteit ire, 

Sun host feseit a sei venir, 

Le chastel irra asaillir. 

O'Chonchor tut a estrus, 
De Connoth li reis orguUus, 
Od sei menad OTlaverti, 
Mac Dermot e Mac Herathi, 
Reis O'Kelli de O'Mani, 



154 THE CONQUEST [3243 

O'Harthire e O'Hinnathi, 
O'Cabre e OTlannegan, 
E pus don O'Manethan, 
O'Dude e O'Manethan, 
O'Sathnessy de Poltilethban; 
Si alad le reis Molethlin 
E reis O'rorig sun veysin, 
De Kinel O'Neil O'Malori 
E Mac Douleue altresi ; 
Si alad reis O'Karuel 
E Mac Tawene, qui tant ert fel, 
Mac Scilling e Mac Artan 
E fel Mac Garragan ; 
Makelan tut ensement 
I alad od la sue gent ; 
De Kinelogin O'Nel li reis 
Od sei menad trei mil Yrreis. 
Assemblez erent les Norreis 
E de Lethchoin trestut les reis, 
Vers Trym pristrent a cheminer 
Pur le chastel agravanter ; 
E li barun Huge Tyrel 



3265] OF IRELAND. 155 

Desque al cunte un damisel 

II envea trestut brochant 

Sur un cheval asez curant, 

Que al cunte descrit trestute 

La novele tut de buche : 

Que assembles erent les Norreys 

E de Lescoin trestut les reis 

Pur abatre le dongun, 

Le chastel e le hirefun. 

'^ Par mei vus mande li barun 

Li veil Tyrel de Trym Hugun 

Que tu le seez de tut aidant 

O tun force e sucurrant." 

E li cunte lui pramis ad 

Que il de buche lui eiderat. 

TUz fist somundre sa gent 
Par Leynestere hastivement. 
Quant assemblez esteint tuz, 
Vels, jovenes, bloys e ruz, 
Vers Trym penserent de errer 
Pur les Norreys encuntrer; 



156 THE CONQUEST [3286 

Mes einz ki li gentil quens 
Venus esteit od les sens, 
Aveit Huge veraiment 
Del tut guerpi le mandement 
Pur CO qu'il n'aveit a fors 
Dedens la meisun ne deors 
De melle rendre ne estur 
San Taide del cuntur. 
Quant les Engleis erent partis 
E lur meysun urent guerpiz, 
A [T]rym vindrent les Yrreis. 
La somme dirrai de meis 
Cumben erent ne quant miller ; 
Kar tenu sarrai mensonjer. 
La mot firent tut degeter, 
Desque a la tere tut verser, 
E la meysun tut premer 
De fu ardant estenceler. 

QUant acompli urent lur feiz, 
Si s'en sunt trestut retreiz ; 
De returner unt fet semblant 



3307] OF IRELAND. 157 

Vers lur pais li fel tyrant ; 

E li cunte, que tant iert fere, 

Ver Trym pensout d'esperimere 

Pur la meysun guarantir, 

Si il la hore pust venir. 

Vers Trym s'en veit li quens brochant 

E od lui meint vassal vaillant ; 

Mes quant li quens esteit venus, 

Sur I'ewe esteit lores descenduz ; 

Kar il n'i trova en [ejstant 

Meysun, bordel, petit ne grant, 

U il se peust dedens eiser 

Ne eel nuit herberger. 

T Ores fist li quens hucher, 
^-^ Par tut Tost commander 
Que tuz montasent errant ; 
Atant se mist al ferrant, 
Si s'en ala chemin dreiture 
Pursuant a grant alure. 
Tant s'en est li quens penez 
Qu'il atenist la gent detrefs, 



158 THE CONQUEST [3328 

Si lur curut hastivement 

Sanz nul arestement ; 

E les Yrreis ki erent nuz 

Se sunt lores responduz, 

La set, la wit, la treis, 1^ quatre, 

Si que nul ne tint a altre ; 

E li quens ad dune occis 

De cele gent set vint e dis ; 

Pus fet, sachez, retur 

Vers Dyveline od grant baudur ; 

E Huge Tyrel ver Trim ala, 

Sa fortelecce referma, 

Pus Tad garde par grant honur 

Desque la venue sun seignur; 

E li quens par Leynestere 

Errant va, avant, arere, 

Tan qu'il se prist a conseiller 

Qu'il wdra en fin errer 

Sur Dovenald O'Brien li reis 

Par le conseil de ses Engleis. 

Son ost se mist tut a estrus, 

De Leynestere les plus vigrus, 



3350] OF IRELAND. 159 

Que tuz fussent atendanz, 
Veiles, jouenes, petiz e granz, 
A la banere e al penun 
Le conestablie le Gros Reymun. 

O Eignurs, que Deu vus seit amis, 
^ Chevalers, serjanz e mechins ! 
Dirrai vus de un chevaler, 
Reymund le Gros roi nomer; 
Barun esteit icil vaillant, 
Vassal, hardi e conquerant, 
Aseez erent riches e manant 
E de ses peres le plus puissant ; 
Conestable est Reymun 
De Leynestere la regiun ; 
Chevalers retint e bone gent 
Par le cunte commandement, 
Chevalers tint e souders, 
Archers, serjanz e poigners 
Pur mettre ha hunte e a bellei 
De Yrlande les enemis le rei. 



160 THE CONQUEST [3370 

ENtendez, seignurs, bone gent, 
Si orrez ja apertement : 
De un chevaler vus voil cunter 
E barun, noble guerrer, 
De le conestable le Gros Reymun, 
Cum il son ost par tut somun 
A munt, a val, en la tere, 
Par Mithe e par Leynistere, 
Trestut la bachelerie 
Bien garnie e ben arme, 
Chevalers, serjanz e souders 
Des armis garniz e aprestez, 
Contre Reymund en Osserie 
Vienge icel baronie, 
E il la fra avant giner 
Sur reis O'Brien, que tant est fere. 
Li reis yrreis de Osserie 
Irrad en lur compaingnie, 
Ki Tost, §0 dist, pur veir menera 
Sur reis O'Brien e guiera, 
Desque a Limeric la cite 
Les guiera en sauvete. 



3392] OF IRELAND. 161 

Que vus irra plus contant, 
Plus ne meins, petit ne grant ? 
Quant Tost esteit assemble, 
Vers Monestere est dune turne ; 
E li reis de Osserie 
Devant prime les guie, 
Vers Monestere les guia, 
Sur reis O'Brien eel ost mena. 

MEs Reymund, solum la gent, 
N'el cruit pas parfitement 
Devant qu'il eust asure, 
Sa fei pleine e jure 
Qui ja ne li feist boidie, 
Trei'sun nul ne tricherie 
A lui avant ne a sa gent ; 
E li reis hastivement 
Li dist lores en oiance : 
'^ Ja mars averez de go dutance ; 
Eincez tut dreit vus guierai 
E sur ma fei vus pleverai.*' 

M 



162 THE CONQUEST [3412 

QUant li reis aveit co dist, 
Eirent avant sen contredist, 
Eirent la nuit e lendeman 
Tel hore en boys, tel hore en plein. 
Que a un cite vindrent joe 
Que Lymeric esteit nome. 
Enclose esteit la cite 
De ewe, de mur, de fosse, 
Que tuz iceuz de cest munde 
Ne passereient san nef u ponde 
Ne en yver ne en este 
Ne mes par un mauveise gue. 
Passerent ultre le jor premer 
Le fiz Henri, li ber Meiler. 
Pur CO deist-il par reisun : 
" Del gue Meiler Tapelerum ;'^ 
Kar quant I'ost de Leynestere 
A Lymeric vint en tele manere, 
Desque al ewe esteit Tenus 
Que turner volt sen fere plus, 
Quant un chevaler de Seint-Davi^ 
Ki de sa tere esteit nurri 



^434] OF IRELAND. 163 

(Meiler out nun le fiz Henri), 

A haute voiz leve un cri ; 

Le fiz Henri, le ber Meiller, 

En haut se prist a hucher, 

Devant ala escriant : 

" Passez, chevalers : q ue alez targant ? ^' 

En I'ewe co mist icil errant 

Ultre la port le eheval blanc. 

Quant passe esteit le chevaler, 

Sein Davi ! escriad haut e cler ; 

Kar il esteit seignur 

Suz dampne Deu le creatur, 

E li chevaler par grant ducor 

Sein Davi reclama nuit e jur 

Que lui fust en ai'e 

De conquerre chevalerie, 

Vertu li donat e loz e pris 

Encuntre tuz ses enemis. 

Sovent reclama sein Davi 

Que il n'el mest en obli,i 

Que force lui donat e vigur 

Entre ses enemis le jor. 



164 CONQUEST OF IRELAND. [3456 

A Pres lui passerent asez 
■^ ^ Barun, chevalers ben armez. 
Einz qu'il fussent tuz passez, 
Meint i out le jor neez, 

#M. ^ M. M. 

W •TV' "TV" "^ 



GLOSSARIAL NOTES AND 
OBSERVATIONS. 



P. 1, 1. 1 and 8. latimer, MS. 

1. 3. fuZy I make. IMod. French, /a ?s. 

1. 5. buche, mouth. Mod. French, bouche. 

1. 6. Kicest jest endita tw\io dictSiied this diCcovLnt, 
this relation. 

1. 9, he, who. 

1. 10. lirrai, I will leave. Mod. Fr. laisserai. 
P. 2, 1. 15, amale, amiable. — hailes, 1 

1. 16. paste, power, powerfulness. 

1. 23. yrreis, Irish. 

1. 32. truin, stock. Mod. Fr. tronc, 
P. 3, 1. 33. veil, old. 

1, 37. seingn^s, learned, well-bred. 

1. 41, amuiit, loved. 

1. 44. poer, power. 

1. 52. pur veir, truly, indeed. 

1. 53. reigne, queen. This word is perhaps for 
riens, res, thing. 
P. 4, 1. 58. Que tut freit sa volunte, that she would 
do all his will. 

1. 59. he, who, 

1. 60. de richef, again. Mod. Fr. derechef, 

1. 65, la ramist : 1. Is it not to be read Varamist 7 

1. 66. Saver al rei Dermod freit, she would make 
known to King Dermod. 
N 



166 GLOSSARIAL NOTES 

P. 4, 1. 74, Que a luivi en gent san demure, they should 

come to him without delay. 
P. 5, 1. 82. deliverement , speedily. 

]. 83. Par ie rei commandement, by the king's 
command. 

1. 92. sic ; but read : venist, 
P. 6, 1. 100. se pleniouty complained, 

1, 102. fere, fierce, stubborn. 

\, 104. seingn UTS, lords. — re (so we must 
read), king. 

1. 105. loresy then. Mod. Fr. lors, alors. — 
menout, led. 

1. 107. sic ; but read : De ci k^en mi Kencelath, 
from thence to the middle of Kencelath. 

1. 109, Hoc, there. — solum, according to. Mod. 
Fr. selon, 

1. 110. sojorn, abode. Mod. Fr. sejour. 

1. 112. dolusant, sorrowful. 
P, 7, 1. 123. meyne, people, men. 

I. 124. feseit, he would cause, make. Mod. 
Fr,fit. 

1. 125. pout, could. 

1. 128. fausit, should not fail. 

1. 130. sic; but read : pramis, promised. 

1. 131. Que reis li frunt en eel puis, that they 
will make him king in this country. 

1. 132. S'il pount en geiter, if they can throw 
out of it. 

1. 134. s'en turnout, turned from there. 
P. 8, 1. 142. sic ; but read : guaignun, dogs. 

1. 143. This word changon, song, is the name 
given to our pcem, for all the poems in 
the xiith and xiiith centuries, and per- 
haps before, were sung. 

seignurs, bien est s6u,et n'est pas lunge- 

ment, 
estoient cil proisie et seivi largement 
qui chantoient les faiz des anciene gent. 



AND OBSERVATIONS. 167 

(le Siege de Jerusalem, Bodleian MS. 
Xo. 4093, Hatton 77 [formerly 68], at 
the beginning.) 
P. 8. 1. 144. acomplerum, we will fulfil. Mod. Fr. 
accomplirons. 
1. 149. pareins, relatives. Mod. Fr. parents, 
1. 154. fuant, flying. Mod. Yr.fuyant. 
1. 156. ren, thing. Mod. Fr. rieii ; Lat, res, 

rem. 
1. 157. sic ; but read ; son seigmir, [to] his lord. 
P. 9. 1. 162. srjornout, lived, remained. Mod. Fr. 
sejournoit, 
1. 166. se purpensoutf thought of. 
1. 167. veidie, cunning, trick. 
1. 168. cum. it pust, how he could. 
1. 173. pruvere, piiest. 

1. 175. celfeis, this time. Mod. Fr. cettefois, 
1. 176. S071, his. — dengiUf dungeon. Mod. Fr. 
donjon, 
P. 10, 1. 181. 5ipi/r ??2oi«ereu/£'r, unless for a regular 
monk. 
1. 182. panrner, palmer. 
1. 184. Perhaps one must punctuate thus i 

Lefelj quant vit le rei, errant 

Vers la forest, etc. 
(The felon, when he saw the king, 
directly towards the forest, etc.) 

1. 187. ccnustre, to know, to recognise. 
1. 190. quel, what. Mod. Fr. quoi. 
1. 191. sic; but read: mun, my, 
1. 192. sic ; but read : si V, if it. 
1. 195. irascu, cross, enraged. 
1. 196. tristur, sorrow. 
P. 11, 1. 201. curteis, courteous. Mod. Fr. courtois, 
1. 210. sic ; but read this line thus : 

E que it le voleient prendre, 
[xlnd that they would take him.] 



168 GLOSSARIAL NOTES 

]. 212. sic. I do not understand this word, un- 
less it is esgimrt, 
1. 214. sic ; but the right reading is purloin- 
gnant, delaying. 
P. 12, 1. 218. toilet, stolen. — reingne, kingdom. 
1. 219. li, him. 
1.220. exulc, exiled. 
1. 221. sic ; but read thus this line : 

A Korkeran est eschippe, 
[Has embarked at Korkeran.] 

1. 222. waives, or waiues : ? 

1. 227. seisante neis, sixty ships. 

1. 230. avaint, they had. Mod. Fr. avoient, 

1. 231. pernent, they take. Perhaps it should 
be better to erase the stop which is 
at the end of this line, and to put one 
at the end of the following line. 

1. 233. meinies, 1 monks. 
P. 13, 1. 243. poestifz, powerful, 

1. 259. seigmir : (seign, MS.) 1 Is it not : of 
which he was called lord? 
P. 14, 1. 260. al einz qu'il pout, as fast as he could. 

1, 261. curt, court. Mod. Fr. cour, — Purveir, 
truly, indeed. 

1. 263. juant, joyful, glad. 

1. 268. celefiez, this time. Mod. Fr. cettefois, 

1. 270. curteisement, courteously. Mod. Fr. 
courtoisement. 

1. 272. he meint, who lives (qui manet), 

1. 273. vus ward et saut, may guard and save 
you ! 

1, 274. donge, may give. 

1. 277. hunte, have. 

1. 279. dune su nez, from whence I am born. 
P. 15, 1. 284. venc, I come. 

1.286. ii, thy. 

1. 287. sic ; but read : mes. 

L 288. Par si que mai seez aidant, at the con- 
dition you would be aiding me. 



AND OBSERVATIONS. 169 

1. 289. Que ne sei de tut perdaiitf not to lose at 

all. 
1. 290. tei, thee. 
1. 291. cuntuvy counts, earls. 
1. 294. voliinterSy willingly. Mod. Fr. volon- 

tiers. 
1. 297. al repeirer, to the return. 
P 16, 1. 302. cum it L'out cher, had he him dear. 

1. 303. Quant que il eust mester, all he might 

want. 
1. 309. Ne saiquely quinzein u un meins, I do 
not know which, a fortnight or a 
month. 
1. 311. asez aver, to have enough. 
1. 313. le leiz : 1 
1. 314. verreiment, truly. 
1. 315. for de pramesse, except promise. 
1. 318. sic ; but we must read : pramis, 
P. 17, 1. 330 et 331. mut, much. 

1. 332. acun socurs, some assistance. 
1. 339. fute, flight. 
1. 340. mulier, wife. Lat. mulier. 
1. 341. list, had. Mod. Fr. eut, 
1. 343. durreit, he would give. Mod. Fr. 
donneroit, 
P. 18, 1. 354. lelment, loyally. 
1. 355. tai, thee. 
1. 356. en iceis, in these things. 
1. 360. ne pus, I cannot (go out). 
P. 19, 1. 366. pleit, speech. 

1. 368. finnat, he ended. Mod. YT.finit. 
1. 375. mere, sea. Mod. Fr. mer, 
1. 380. a Vure, at this hour. 
P. 20, 1. 394. dium, we say. Mod. Fr. disons. 

1. 395 and 397: delivere, or better delivere, li- 
berated. Mod. Fr. dilivrt. 
1. 396. Par la requeste li riche reis, by the re- 
quest of the rich king. 
1. 402. passout, passed. Mod. Fr. passoit. 



170 GLOSSARIAL NOTES 

P. 20, 1. 405. guerreis, warriors. Mod. Ft, guerriers, 
P. 21, 1. 414. ierunt, were, erant ; or shall be, erunt. 

1. 423. lati?ner, MS. 

1. 424. After this line, one is wanting to com- 
plete the rhyme. 

1. 428. lut denersy hired with pence. The 
MS. has deuers. 

1. 429. pe, foot. Mod. Fr. pied, 
P. 22, 1. 431 and 435. vodra, voidra, will, wishes. 
Mod. Fr. voudra, 

1. 436. Richement lus frai feffer , richly I will 
cause them to have feofFed. 

1. 437. durrtty he will give ; but perhaps we 
must read durrai^ I will give. If 
this reading were adopted, the in- 
verted commas should be put at the 
end of the following line. 

1. 438. estor : ?. Perhaps atovy garments. 

1. 441. po. Perhaps se, himself. 

1. 448. poetifsy powerful. 
P. 23, 1. 452. des acez : 1 

1. 454. Set ut'ime cumpaignuns, with eight com- 
panions. 

L 461 and 469, Banne, this word is dubious in 
the MS. 
P. 24, 1. 475. lament, gladly. 

1. 476. pur very to see. Mod. Fr. pour voir, 

\,41S,fechelis: 1 

1. 485. tant tosty directly. Mod. Fr. tantot, 

1. 491 and 495. sauty assault, attack. 
P. 25, 1. 496. Desqne i fud aseiriy till the evening 
came. 

1. 498. li aloezy either the praised (speaking of 
the king) or the hired men. In the 
latter case, a comma must be put 
before this word. 

1. 504. feutty oath of vassalage. 

1. 505. fcaro/ie, baronage. 

1. 508. resouti received. 



AND OBSERVATIONS. 171 

P. 25, 1. 515. sojourner, give rest to. 

1. 516. sojornout, remained. 
P. 26, 1.519. the MS. has Femes; which must be 
the reading. 

1. 520. p^, MS. perhaps I ought to have put 
puis. 

1. 523. sic ; but read sen or sans, without. 

1. 531. dutent, fear. Mod. Fr. redoutent. 

1. 535. debar ater, to play a trick upon, to de- 
feat. 

1. 537. hi, that. — nert remansuz (read n'ert), 
would not be left. 
P. 27, 1. 538. larrunt, they will leave. 

1. 540. eint, they have. Mod. Fr. aient. 

1. 541. cham, field. Mod. Fr. champ. 

1. 542. En qu'il ost alast avant (read en qui 
Vost, etc.), before the army went on. 

1. 545. dute, fear. 

1. 547. sic ; but read : Que taut de gent la lur 
syvirent, that so many people fol- 
lowed their men. 

1.553. qu'il lout tantfere, which he had so 
fierce. The I of lout was put to point 
out the pronunciative connection of 
this word with the preceding. 
P. 28, 1. 565. sic ; perhaps we must read ignelpas, 
directly. 

1. 573. hatie, rage, fury. 

1. 574. par achef de tur, finally, at last. 

1. 579. naufrez, wounded. 
P. 29, 1. 586. baudur, joy. 

1. 593. prei, prey. Mod. Fr. proie. 

1. 594. de altre manere, of other manner. 

1. 597. fublez, put on. Mod. Fr. affuhU. 

1. 599. adi'erser, adversary. This name in the 
old French poems is commonly ^iven 
to the Devil. 
P. 30, 1. 607. autreci, also. Ital. altresi, 

1. 609. cheveintainnes, captains. 



172 GLOSSARIAL NOTES 

P. 30, 1. 619. haillerint, they gave. 
P. 31, 1. 625. remis, remained. 

1. 626. Kar en eus s'ajiout, for he trusted to them. 
1. 633. eirs : 1 times. 
1. 64] and 642. relie^ rallies. 
P. 32, 1. 648. estovevy necessity. 

1 . 656. ad VuTf at the hour. . 

1. 657. sic. 

1. 659. set scent, seven hundred. Mod. Fr. 

sept cents. 
1. 667. deliverement passum, let us speedily 
pass. 
P. 33, 1. 668. Que nusfuissoins en la montaine, to be 
on the mountain. 
1. 670. Kar armes eymts le plusurs, for the most 

of you, you like arms. 
1. 675. n'averunt-ily they shall not have. Mod. 

Fr. n^auront-ils. 
1. 676. irrum, we will go. Mod. Fr. irons, 
1. 681. encontrarie, adversary, 
1. 683. serrum dutts, we shall be feared. Mod. 

Fr. serons redoutts. 
1. 687. champele, pitched. 
P. 34, I. 690. eleis, ardour. 

1. 691. suerent, followed. Mod. Yr.suivirent. 
1. 692. aitanty then. 
1. 694. friez, you shall do. 
1. 695. xl. dis, forty times ten (400). 
1. 696. hruce: 1 
1. 699. destrez, behind. 
1.701. s^essandrent: ? 

1. 702. Detrefs lur frez un va'ie, behind you 
will make an assault. 
P. 35, 1. 715. tapezy concealed. Mod. Fr. tapis, 

1. 717. aimCy estimation. 
P. 36, 1. 731. les ques, who. Mod. Fr. lesquels, 

1. 737. reine, bridle. — Blanchard, the name of 
a horse, so called because he was 
white. 



AND OBSERVATIONS. 173 

P. 36, 1. 741. champaine^ field. Mod. Fr. campagne» 
1. 743. asezfaite, enough arranged. 
1, 744. Dune c'este Morice escvity then Morice 
has cried out. 
P. 37, 1. 754, enjuneluns, on their knees. 

1. 755. sic ; but read ; attendirent, waited upon. 
1. 757. hanst, the length of a lance (hasta), 
1. 760. Si cum la prise urent cumplus : 1 
P. 38, 1, 776. folur, folly. 

1. 778. vindrinty came. Mod. Fr. vinrent, 
1. 779. sic. 

1. 782. estrCy excepting (extra). 
1. 791. queje /oi^-, what I counsel. 
P. 39, 1. 799. Que n'el an gum pursuant, till we go 
pursuing him. 
1. 808. demorirint, they remained. 
1. 809. Joe, joy. Mod. Yi.joie, — dtdut, plea- 
sure. 
\,%\Z,ficheis: ? 
P. 40, 1. 821. maladis, sick. Mod. Fr. malades, 
P. 41, 1. 836. tut leplus, the most. 
P. 42, 1. 860. JE que eusfeseint aparailer, and that 
they would make themselves fitted 
up. 
1. 868. serrement, (perhaps read ferrement) 
fiercely. Mod. Fr. fierement. See 
1. 1247. 
1. 869. guiot, led. Mod. Fr. guidoit, 
1. 876. p, MS. 
P. 43, 1. 879. nohlei, nobility. 
1. 883. tut dis, always. 
1. 884. utime, eight days. Mod. Fr. huitieme, 

or perhaps, huitaine. 
1.889. deignout, deigned. The negation seems 
to be wanting. 
P. 44, 1. 902. faudrum, we will fail. 

1. 903. Pur taut cum nus viverum, as long as 

we live. Mod. Fr. vivrons, 
1. 905. tant i pout, as much as he can. Mod. 
Fr. tant quHl peut. 



174 GLOSSARIAL NOTES 

P. 44, 1. 910. fo, himself. Mod. Fr. se. 

1. 913. savement, safely. 

1.915. heite, gldid, 
P. 45; 1. 940 and 941. These lines mean : if I cannot 
take a revenge of him, in me I shall 
have but dolour. 
P. 46, 1. 943. a Deu bene^on, may God be blessed. 

1. 951. remis, remained. 
P. 47. 1. 968. Just, lay (jacuit). 

1. 970. enfantesme, vision. Mod. Ywfantome, 

1.971. a vers, as true. 

1. 977. idunc, then, 

1. 980. pur U chefgueiter, to vt^ait on the front. 

1. 984. quidount, they thought. 
P. 48, 1. 988. P9, MS.— treii, drawn. 

1, 990. capeler, helmet. 

1. 991. agenuler, to kneel. 

1. 997. Que cest event longge (perhaps it would 
be better to read ; Que c'esteient 
longge), who had come unawcires. 
P. 49, 1. 1012. ki, that. Mod. Fr. que, 

1. 1013. contreditur, contradiction. 

1. 1016. P9, MS., 

1.1017. herdeler: 1 

1. 1021. ameimes : 1 

1. 1022. reddur, stiffness. Mod. Fr. roideur, 

1. 1023. pongneur, warriors (pugnatores), 
P. 50, 1. 1032. pristrent asailler (or perhaps better, a 
sailler), they began to assault. Mod. 
Fr. se prirent a assaillir. 

1. 1034. aques, somewhat (^aliquid), 
P. 51, 1. 1064. soudeiSy soldiers. 

1. 1065. lisum, we read. Mod. Fr. lisons, 
P. 52, 1. 1075. notinier, shipmen. Mod. Fr. nau- 
tonniers. 

1. 1079. Aruele: \ 
P. 53, 1. 1096. heistezy glad. 

1. 1097. saili a pes, rose upon feet. 

1. 1100. liveresun, salary. 

1. 1110. restur: ^ 



AND OBSERVATIONS. 175 

P. 54, 1. 1121. delaement, delay. 

1. 1125. beu, fair. Mod. Fr. beau, 
P. 55, 1. 1151. remansrus, remained. 
P. 56, 1. 1163. pepa, from a long time. 

1. 1164. a ceit d'esperun, with prick of spur, 
i. e. with all speed. 
P. 57, 1. 1185. ascitjor, at this day. 
P. 58, 1. 1210. suent, should follow. Mod. Fr. sui- 

vent, 
P. 59, 1. 1217. jout, was lying (jacuit), 
1. 1223. sic. 

1. 1226. si purpensout, thought. 
1. 1231. aver pout, could have. 
P. 60, 1. 1241. -de feffement, by the law of their te- 
nure. 
1. 1248. aprucent, approach. 
P. 61, 1. 1258. ateinstrent, they reached. 

1. 1274. sic ; but read : soudeier, hire soldiers. 
Mod. Fr. soudoyer. 
P. 62, 1. 1278. sic. 

1. 1285. cafs, bald. Mod. Fr. chauves* 
P. 63, 1. 1303. remansist, would remain (remaneret). 
1. 1310. se qui, I think so. 
1. 1313. brut (sic), noise. Mod. Fr. bruit, 
1. 1316, plesser, to incumber. 
1. 1317. Par unc il deveint passer, through 
which they were to pass. Mod. Fr. 
par oil its devoient passer, 
P. 64, 1. 1319. garnis, warned. 

1. 1327. trecherie, treachery, perfidy. Mod. 

Fr. tricherie. 
1. 1328. agueite, ambuscade. 
1. IS35. f rums, we shall do. Mod. 'Fr.ferons. 
1. 1336. responderunt, answered. Mod. Fr. 
rtpondirent, Lat. responderunt. 
P. 65, 1. 1340. Asez se tindrint cdiment, they held 
themselves quietly enough. 
1. 1341. Cum de fo ne susent rien, as they 

knew nothing of that. 
1. 1350. despandw, spread. Mod, YT.repandue. 



176 GLOSSARIAL NOTES 

— depople, 1 published. Mod. Fr. 
publite. 
P, 66, 1. 1374. eloec, there. 

1. 1 376, soudener a pi, foot soldier. 

1. 1377. sithezein, citizen. 

1. 1378. p\ MS.— murit, died. Mod. Fr. 
mourut. 
P. 67, 1. 1385. enparler, speaker, orator, councillor. 

1. 1386. sen, sense. — saver y learning. Mod. 
Fr. savoir, 

1. 1390. lerrum, we will leave. 

1. 1397. affermout, firmed himself. • 

1. 1398. otrei, permission. 

1. 1399. poant, powerful. 
P. 68, 1. 1405. oz, daring. 

1. 1407. p^ MS. 
P. 69, 1. 1432. agravanter, to destroy. 

1. 1439. ceinz, here. Mod. Fr. ceans, 
P. 70, 1. 1454. conrei, troop, company. 

1. 1464. le derein conre, the last company. 

1. 1465. S'enfuerent par cet effre f^eddiWdiyhy 
this fright. 
P. 71, 1. 1473. Cen afailiz event lejor : 1 

]. 1478. baesse, girl. 

1. 1479. tempre de ascer, either of tempered 
steel, or, directly of steel. 

1. 1 480. que, who. Mod. Fr. qui, 

1. 1481. aphaleisis : 1 
P. 72, 1. 1504. vile, eve. Mod. Fr. veille. 
P. 74,1. 1536. ISiemtsqu'ilust la seignurie, ?it the only 
condition he had the lordship, 

1. 1540. P9, MS. 

1. 1548. le cuntur, of the count. 

1. 1549. li pugniur, the warrior. 

1, 1550. deji, certainly (defide), 
P. 75, 1. 1557. sauderunt, they will assault. 

1, 1561. forciblement, forcibly. 

1. 1565. warde, guard, ward. 



::''J'3^ 



AND OBSERVATIONS. 177 

P. 76, 1. 1575. cunreis, troops. 

1. 1579. corocement, wrath, raging. Mod. Fr. 

courroux. 
1. 1592. Here a word appears to be wanting. 
Perhaps we niust read : en ceste 
hitre, at this hour. 
1. 1595. fossaes, ditched. 
P. 77, 1.1616. /'are-uarc?e,the rear of the army. Mod. 

Fr. Varriire-garde, 
P. 78,1. 1632. iurenez:'>. 
P. 79, 1. 1642. avue, defender {advocatus), 
1. 1653. f, MS. 
1. 1654. j^b?-en, foreign. 
P. 80, 1. 1667. ne savient, did not know. Mod. Fr. 
nesavoient. — partir, partake, divide. 
Mod. Fr. partuger {jpartiri). 
1. 1674. enuet, it annoyed. 
1. 1676. Ki taut remist le parlement, that the 
conference remained so long. 
P. 81,1. 1684. hatit: ? 

1. 1686. lose, daring. 

1. 1688. devant qiC'd (perhapsitisbetter to put 
qui V) sust Dermod le jur, before 
Dermod knew it this day. 
1. 1693./i(te, flight. Mod. It. fuite. The 
MS. has sute, which is evidently 
wrong, 
P. 82, 1. 1707. andu, both (ambo duo). 
1. 1712. garison, ammunitions. 
1. 1713. fuisun, plenty. Mod. Yr.foison. 
1. 1719. a'lht, August. Mod. Fr. aout, 
P. 83, 1. 1744. p^, MS. 
P. 85, 1. 1771. der regard: 1 
P. 88, 1. 1844. p^ MS. 

1, 1848. quant, all that (quantum), 
P. 89, 1. 1852. a nulj'ere, by no means. 
1. 1855. llrreit, he would leave. 
1. 1865. a estrus, directly. 



178 GLOSSARIAL NOTES 

P. 89, 1. 1866. orgulus, proud. Mod, Fr. or gueilleux. 
P. 90, 1. 1871. E si CO ne li vent agrt, and if that does 
not please him. Mod. Fr. vient. 

1. 1873. osfre, offer. Mod. Fr. offre. 

1. 1887. sent, one hundred. Mod. Fr. cent. 

1. 1891. pugners, warriors. 
P. 91, 1. 1895. adiiriz, hardened. 

1. 1898. souder, soldiers. 

1. 1900. ces, his. Mod, Fr. ses, 

1. 1901. go, himself. Mod. Fr. se, 

1. 1905. a terce conrei, at the third company. 
P. 92, 1. 1917. ynaus, quick, sudden. 

1. 1919. sic. cencens : 1 
P. 93, 1. 1944. amervolanty marvelling. 

1, 1949. ossis, killed. Mod. Fr. occis, 
P.94,1. 1961./erm:? f 

1. 1967. eire, tour. .. - - ' ^^ " ■ ^ " 

1. 1972. liuent : 1 
P. 95, 1. 1997. reliout, rallied. 

1. 1998. egrementy sharply. Mod. Fr. aigre- 
ment, 
P. 96, 1. 2006. chape, cap. Mod. Fr. chape. 

1. 2007. sete, arrow (sagitta). — oscist, killed. 

1.2012. astlve: 1 

1. 2013. pere, stone. Mod. Fr. pierre. 

1. 2017. del (read E li) boys, and the wood. — 
7>9, MS. 
P. 97, 1. 2021. eloc, there. 

1. 2031. sonz mentir, without lying. Mod. Fr. 
sans mentir. 

1. 2036. encele, sealed. 
P. 98, 1. 2044. sic. 

1. 2045. sorur, sisters. 

1. 2047. enfmxiblement, with much forces. 

1. 2058. adrescereit, he would repair, redress. 

1. 2062. Par si que quite s'enpustrealer, at the 
condition he could go away. 
P. 99, 1. 2069. The comma which is at the end of 
this line is perhaps useless. 



AND OBSERVATIONS. 179 

1. 2074. s'en put partir, he can go. 
1. 2079. E sanement s'enpupartir, and safely 
he could go. 
P. 100, 1. 2086. ciincte (sic), count. 

1. 2087. acope, accused. Mod. Fr. inculpe. 
P. 101, 1. 2118. la meine i met, to put his hand. 

1. 2120. asuie.'-i 
P. 102, 1. 2132. nef] nine. Mod. Fr. neiif, 
1. 2134. curte, court. 

1, 2140. a sun gant plee, MS. but it is evident 
that it must be read guant plee, 
has folded his glove. Mod. Fr. 
a son gant ploye. See, on this cere- 
mony, the Roman de la Violette^ p. 
292, note ; and la Chanson de Ro- 
land, p. 202, col. 1. 
P. 103, 1. 2163. wunt, they go. Mod. Fr. vont, 

1.2168. sic ; but read it/it, they have. Mod. 
Fr. out, 
P. 104, 1. 2174. f, MS. So again 1. 2184. 

1. 2187. p/e/s: ? — bailout, he gave. Mod. 

Fr. bailloit. 
1. 2192. a Vures, 1 at the hour. Mod. Fr. a 

Vheure, 
1. 2193. tent, holds. Mod. Fr. tient (tenet). 
P. 105, 1. 2196. tendrent, held. Mod. Fr. tinrent, 
1. 2198. sulum, according to. Mod. Fr. 
selon, 
P. 106, 1. 2236. Deljiz le rei de maiste, at the name 
of the son of the king of majesty. 
P. 107, 1. 2240. sic ; but read Deu, God. 

1. 2242. aiiques, somewhat (aliquid). 
1. 2246. maveise entisement, bad excitation. 
1. 2252. coruce, wrath, anger, passion. Mod. 
Fr. courroux, 
P. 108, 1. 2266. sic. 

1. 2267. new, nephew. Mod. Fr. neveu, 
1. 2273. This is a misprint. Par ought to be 
Pur, as in the MS. 



180 GLOSSARIAL NOTES 

P. 109, 1. 2299 and 2301. par encoste, by side. Mod. 

Fr. a, par rote. 
P. 110, 1. 2309. seiwis, are. Mod. Ft, sommes{sumus), 
P. Ill, 1. 2332. en dreite, ']\i?.t at. 
P. 112, 1. 2344. Ills mil, not even one. — sunt (sic), 
his. Mod. Fr. son. 
1. 2348. lanceer e segeter, to strike with lances 

and arrows. 
1. 2349. mitraus, walls. 
1. 2350. herneus, battlements. 
1. 2357. hatie, vigour, ardour. 
P. 113, 1. 2368. Perhaps it would be better to put 
s'nnt feruz, have striked : si is an 
expletive particle. 
1. 2371. assente (read assent e) : 1 
1. 2375. hi irefs event remisy who remained 

behind. 
1. 2386. joude. See, on the meaning of this 
word, Jo. Georgius Eccardus, in- 
cerli monachi Weissenbvrgensis ca- 
terhesis Theotisca, Impensis Nico- 
lai Forsteri, bibliopol. Avl. Hanov. 
M Dcc XIII, Bo, p. 175-178; and 
Commeiitarii de rebus Franciae 
Orientalis, vol. l,Wirceburgi, typis 
Henrici Engmann, M DCC XXIX, 
folio, p. 872-873. 
P. 114, 1. 2399. eshauduz (sic), glad, joyful. 

1. 2407. disripline, carnage, slaughter. 
P. 115, 1. 2408. Ite la marine, near the sea. 

1. 2411. qu'ereiit meut, which was made. 
Put a comma at the end of this 
line. 
P. 116, 1. 2433. devoroie, I ought. Mod. Fr. devrois, 
1. 2434. artire^ directly, one after another. 
1. 2445. cosuit, followed, traced. 
P. 117, 1.2470. P^MS. 
P. 118, 1.2475. eshaaz: ] 

1. 2483. verament, truly. Mod. Fr. vrai- 
ment. 



AND OBSERVATIONS. 181 

1. 2487. departri (sic), divided. 
P. 119, 1. 2493. Issi larrum la reisun, here we will 
leave speaking. 
]. 2497. sic ; but read tint, 
1. 2499. este-vus, behold. 
1. 2500. traiterez, traitors. iMod. Fr. traitres. 
— duzze, twelve. Mod. Fr. dome. 
1.2511. sic. 
P. 120, 1. 2515. ki, that. Mod. Fr. que, 

1. 2517. sic ; but read ne 'I. — scire, lords. 
1. 2520. eimes, we are. 
1. 2521. awm, we have. Mod. Fr. avons* 
1. 2527. navire, navy. 
P. 121, 1. 2536. descofret, discover. Mod. Fr. dt- 
couvre. 
1. 2538. been, well. Mod. Fr. Men. 
1.2540. p^MS. 
1. 2541. asuert (sic, but read asewre), assured. 

Mod. Fr. assurt. 
1. 2544. sic. 
1. 2550. sic ; but read Pur quei, why. Mod. 

Fr. pourquoi. 
1. 2555. amout, liked. jMod. Fr. aimoit. 
P. 122, 1. 2559. murthrir, to niurder. 
1. 2562. coruz, wrath, anger. 
1. 2568. laute, loyalty. Mod. Fr. loyautt. 
1. 2570. hues, chains, fetters. — avans : 'i 
P. 123, 1. 2577. attendrent, waited for. 

1. 2591. sic. 
P. 124, 1. 2613. sic. eiudegr^ : 1 

1. 2616. cord, agreement. Mod. Fr. accord. 
P. 125, 1. 2617. Read arivt, 
1. 2619. sic. 

1. 2622. en anele (perhaps better enanelt), in 

chains. 

P. 126, 1. 2641. pleja (read ple'ia), folded. Mod. Fr. 

ploya. See before, p. 102, 1. 2140. 

1. 2643. lui saverat retter, he will know how 

to accuse him. 
1. 2657. p^, MS. 

O 



182 GLOSSARIAL NOTES 

P. 127, 1. 2677. dis e wit simeins, eighteen weeks. 

Mod. Fr. dix-huit semaines. 
P. 128, 1. 2684. Peito, Poitou.— ^?7go, Anjou.— ^^ 
mainej Germany. Mod. Fr. Alle- 
magne. 
1. 2694. sic ; but read ; Ne de nul autre re- 
gion, 
P. 130, 1. 2725. eynces, before. 

1. 2736. f, MS. This line is misprinted. 
Read Ki pus i suffri maint [a]han, 
1. 2737. P9, MS. 
P. 131, 1. 2749. le conetable, the constable's juris- 
diction. Mod. Fr. coimetablie. 
1. 2753. wdra, I will. Mod. Fr. voudrai. 
1. 2761. a demi lui (sic), at half a league. 
Mod. Fr. a demi-lieue, 
P. 132,1.2781. The negation was forgotten here; 
so we must read ne deignout, dis- 
dained. 
P. 133,1.2791. We have misread the MS. which 
has Rob' i.e. Robery to make rob- 
bery in. Put a comma at the end 
of this line, 
1.2802. vias:l 

1. 2808. As the MS. is defective in this place, 
we may read also [po<?s]tis, power- 
ful. 
1. 2809. sic ; but read Que tint, who held. 
P. 134, 1. 2823 and 2826. f, MS. 
P. 135, 1. 2844. sic ; but read: Venseigne, the stan- 
dard. 
P. 136, 1. 2853. p^, MS. 
P. 137, 1.2879. euoiter: ? 
P. 138, 1. 2908. quant, as many (quantum), 

1. 2910. deques, as far as. 
P. 139, 1. 2923. reals, for the king. 
P. 140, 1. 2939. p^, MS,— mist, lived, remained. 

1. 2947. druvesuns : 1 
P. 141, 1. 2972. meins (sic), month. Mod. Fr. mois. 
1. 2976. brande : 1 



AND OBSERVATIONS. 183 

P, 142, 1. 2989. sic ; but it is evident that we must 
read cuvers tre'iter, felon traitors. 
1. 2995. demeyn, domestic. 
P. 143, 1. 3010. a eel feez, at this time. 

1. 3015, iddle, island. Mod. Fr. He, 
P. 144, 1. 3034. sic ; but read: Uenseigne, the stan- 
dard, 
P. 145, 1. 3045. greins, of a bad temper. — nus : { 
sic ; but perhaps we oug'ht to read 
irus, angry (^iratus), 
]. 3047, lai^gis as trestuz, large to all. 
1. 3048. f libit, put on. Mod. Fr. affublt, 
1, 3050. Quant al matin fust digni, when in 

the morning he had dined. 
1. 3051. Sus eel nut home plus heite, under 
the sky there was not a more merry 
man. 
L 3060, wsdirraij I will tell you. 
1. 3066. P9, MS. 
P, 146, 1.3076. devant (sic; but re^d devant que), 
before, 
1. 3078. feiz, fiefs. Mod. Fr. Jiefs, — divisey 

condition. 
1, 3079. Pur dis chevalers servisey for a ser- 
vice of ten knights. 
1.3081. p?'osem, near. Mod. Fr. ;??'oc/iam. 
1. 3083. p9, MS. 
1. 3086. id. 

1. 3088. We may read le nas, or le uas. 
P. 147, 1. 3100, Johan de Clahaule la marchausie, 
to John of Clahaule the mar- 
shal sy, 
P. 148, 1. 3124. p^ MS. 
P. 149, 1. 3138. idem. 

1. 3142. We may read uaugle easily. 
1. 3155. memes: ? 
P. 150, 1. 3156 et 3157. p^, MS. 
1. 3163. id. 
1.3174. id. 



184 GLOSSARIAL NOTES 

P. 151, 1. 3184. surumnt, MS. 
P. 152, 1. 3207. sic. ' 
1.3211. p9, MS. 

1. 3214. le veitjiori, the old hoary. 
1. 3217. We might read O'Lortan in the 
MS. 
P. 153, 1. 3222. p9, MS. 

1. 3225 et 3226. id. 
1. 3228. id. 
P. 155, 1. 3273. sic ; but read hiresun. Mod. Fr. 
herisson, 
1. 3283. bloys e ruz, fair and red haired. 
Mod. Fr. blonds et i^oilx, 
P. 156, 1. 3296. Where a letter is put between 
brackets, the MS. is defective. 
1. 3297, dbrai (sic), I will not say. 
1. 3299. sarraiy I should be. Mod. Fr. se- 

rois, 
1. 3300. mot, the elevation of earth on which 

a castle stood. Mod. Fr. motte, 
1. 3304. feiz^ facts, actions. Mod. Fr./ait5. 
P. 157, 1. 3309, esperimere : 1 
1.3311. hore, then. 
1. 3318. se eiser, to be at ease, 
1. 3323. alf errant, on the horse. 
1. 3327. ate^iist, reached. Mod. Fr. atteignit, 
P. 158, 1. 3331. reponduzy concealed, hidden. 
1. 3336. P9, MS. 

1. 3345, wdra, will. Mod. Fr. voudra. 
1, 3349. vigrus, vigorous. Mod. Fr. vigon- 
reux, 
P. 159, 1. 3351. veiles, old men. Mod. Fr. vieux, 
1. 3353. conestablie, constable, 
1. 3360. aseez erent (sic), he was enough. 
1. 3361. peresy peers. Mod. Yi. pairs, 
1. 3367. poigners, warriors (pugnatores), 
1. 3368. ha, to. Mod. Fr, a.— beilei : ? 
P. 160, 1. 3379. sic ; but read : Ben arm^ e bien 
garnie. 



AND OBSERVATIONS. 185 

1. 3381. sic. — armisy arms, weapons. 

1. 3384. sic ; but read guier^ to lead. Mod. 
Fr. guider, 

L 3385. sic. 
P. 161, 1. 3392. irra for irrai, I will go. 

1. 3403. sic ; but read plevie, pledged, 
P. 162, 1.3416. >e; ? 

1. 3421. ponde, bridge. Mod. Fr. pont, 
P. 163, 1. 3441. Vaport (so we must read), bears him. 
P. 164, 1. 3459. neez, drowned. Mod, Fr. noyts. 



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